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20 Feb: "Water Lily" by Rainer Maria Rilke

Water Lily 

by Rainer Maria Rilke


My whole life is mine, but whoever says so
will deprive me, for it is infinite.
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.

No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal-
in the rythm of my daily soul
I do not desire-I am moved;

by being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors...


Translated by A. Poulin 



3 comments:

  1. Water lily = Pac-Man? :D

    Also, reminds me of what Jimbostank said about the narrative of being unique--and the dichotomy of someone else thinking the same.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tons of paradoxes.

    I like the Pac-Man interpretation.

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  3. As soon as we start to think we understand, we again move backwards. The movement of this poem is great, the visual of the lily on the water swaying with life.

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