Today I would love to be in the Rome of Rilke’s letter—winning myself back, as he puts it.
Waters infinitely full of life move along the ancient aqueducts into the great city and dance in the many city squares over white basins of stone and spread out in large, spacious pools and murmur by day and lift up their murmuring to the night, which is vast here and starry and soft with winds. And there are gardens here, unforgettable boulevards, and staircases designed by Michelangelo, staircases constructed on the pattern of downward-gliding waters and, as they descend, widely giving birth to step out of step as if it were wave out of wave. Through such impressions one gathers oneself, wins oneself back from the exacting multiplicity, which speaks and chatters there (and how talkative it is!), and one slowly learns to recognize the very few Things in which something eternal endures that one can love and something solitary that one can gently take part in.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Rome, October 29, 1903 (translated by Stephen Mitchell)
I once visited the castle in Duino, near Trieste, where Rilke used to have endless walks, and where he got inspired to write many of his poems.
ReplyDeleteThe castle was hosting an exhibit on Rilke, and I had the chance to see all of it before anyone else; I used to be a wedding assistant photographer back then, and that Summer Sunday afternoon the wedding was at the castle. I took a half-an-hour leave of absence and saw some original papers hand written by Rilke. I was especially touched by a few verses he wrote on one. Since I didn't have pen and paper with me and couldn't go back, I learned it by heart in a few minutes. A few hours later, in the car on the way back home, I wrote it down:
"Extinguish my eyes, I'll go on seeing you.
Seal my ears, I'll go on hearing you,
And without feet, I can make my way to you,
Without a mouth, I can swear you name.
Break my arms, I'll take hold of you with my heart, as with a hand,
Stop my heart, and my brain will start to beat,
and if you consume my brain with fire,
I'll feel you burn in every drop of my blood."
Rome is indeed a magical city...
Jay— This is all so wonderful! You amaze me. Rilke has been my bible for as long as I remember; whenever I need wise words for any situation, I find them in my Selected Poetry of. I did get to meet Stephen Mitchell, who was autographing books one year at BookExpo, and got to thank him for his translations, as well as other fine things he’s done (I liked The Frog Prince). The Duino Elegies are some of my favorites, second only to The Sonnets to Orpheus and [you who never arrived], and I had no idea that was a castle! What a lovely story, thank you. And an unpublished poem, too. It’s a gift to have that kind of memory. I still regret a printed poem I found in Les Baux one summer and gave away . . . and have been missing ever since.
DeleteHow lovely, your post and the letter from Rilke about Rome. I am so happy to have discovered your blog (thanks for leading me here!) and I know I will enjoy reading it on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteSunday— welcome! I'm so glad to have you visit Rome with me!
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