Two

Posted by Ace on December 8th, 2008 filed in poetry, Tales of the Interregnum

Again and again, however we know the landscape of love

and the little churchyard there, with its sorrowing names,

and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others

fall:  again and again the two of us walk out together

under the ancient trees, lie down again and again

among the flowers, face to face with the sky.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

—

I have learned to mould and sculpt in matter,

And to pour the lights of the soul.

On the heights of the mountain summits

Stands the princess,

Her body moulded in marble.

All glory gleams from her sculpted eyes,

Till grace dissolves in fainting.

The sun of Jerusalem shone on her…

Terribly did I burn and yearn for her,

And I long for her still…

And she called in her pride:  “He who sings my song,

His shall I be!…”

Now I shall go, now I shall come, and say:

“I have learned your song, here it is in my mouth:

Your body is fairer than the marble of skies,

O daughter of kings,

And the radiance of your eyes than the radiance of souls;

With prayer and fasting I have discovered your secret-

Be mine!…”

-“I Have Learned to Mould”, I. Z. Rimon (translated by Richard Flantz)