Book of Hours
Ich glaube an Alles noch nie Gesagte
I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
So that what no one has dared to wish for
May for once spring clear
Without my contriving
If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into an open sea.
A quote from “Rilke’s Book of Hours”
Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.
Published by Riverhead Books, New York.
