Friday, January 20, 2017

If Only We Knew How to Blossom



[The Almond Trees in Blossom]

The almond trees in blossom:  all we can
achieve here is the traceless recognition of
ourselves in earthly appearance.

Endlessly I gaze at you in wonder, blessed ones, at your composure,
at how in eternal delight you bear your vanishing beauty.
Ah, if only we knew how to blossom:  our heart would pass beyond every
small danger, and would find peace in the greatest danger of all.

—Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Stephen Mitchell


image:  Pierre Bonnard, The Almond Tree in Blossom

(the last painting he ever made)

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