She who reconciles the ill-matched threads
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
into a single cloth—
it’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
and clears it for a different celebrationwhere the one guest is you.
In the softness of evening
it’s You she receives.You are the partner of her loneliness,
the unspeaking center of her monologues.
With each disclosure You encompass more
and she stretches beyond what limits her,
to hold You.
Rilke, Maria Rainer. Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. Trans. Anita Barrows. Riverhead, 2005. 77.
Despite a lifelong love of poetry, I’ve never read much of the German poet Rilke. I was inspired in this week’s Monday Reflection, however, by an insightful reflection on the poem by Alisa Ruddell. You can read her piece here.
