Eclectic Scriptorium, Sonnet III — Sonnets to Orpheus A god can do it....

Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Robert Bly (Eclectic Scriptorium) - Sonnet III Sonnets to Orpheus

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Sonnet III — Sonnets to Orpheus

A god can do it. But, tell me, how can a man
follow his narrow road through the strings?
A man is split. And where two roads intersect
inside him, no one has built the Singer’s Temple.

Writing poetry as we learn from you is not desiring
not wanting anything that can ever be achieved.
To write poetry is to be alive. For a god that’s easy.
When, however, are we really alive? And when does he

turn the earth and the stars so they face us?
Yes, you are young and you love and the voice
forces your mouth open – that is lovely, but learn

to forget that breaking into song. It doesn’t last.
Real singing is a different movement of air.
Air moving around nothing. A breathing in a god. A wind.

— Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Robert Bly)

“Sonnet III” from Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke, read by me. (Click here for image source).