Rainer Maria Rilke – Spoken by Nicolya Christi

 Quiet friend who has come so far
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

Rainer Maria Rilke (4 Dec. 1875 – 29 Dec. 1926)

Narration – Nicolya Christi
Recorded August 2022