O how all things are far removed and long have passed away. I do believe the star, whose light my face reflects, is dead and has been so for many thousand years. I had a vision of a passing boat and heard some voices saying disquieting things. I heard a clock strike in some distant house... but in which house?... I long to quiet my anxious heart and stand beneath the sky's immensity. I long to pray... And one of all the stars must still exist. I do believe that I would know which one alone endured, and which like a white city stands at the ray's end shining in the heavens.
Rainer Maria RilkeDo not, do not, do not books for ever hammer at people like perpetual bells? When, between two books, silent sky appears: be glad
Rainer Maria RilkeEverything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
Rainer Maria RilkeLook, we don't love like flowers with only one season behind us; when we love, a sap older than memory rises in our arms.
Rainer Maria Rilkeonly someone who is ready for everything, who doesn't exclude any experience, even the most incomprehensible, will live the relationship with another person as something alive and will himself sound the depths of his own being.
Rainer Maria Rilke