Poets tell us to write

Sonnets To Orpheus II, 29

Still friend of many distances, feel how
your breath increases space even now.
In the timber-frames of shadowy bell towers
let yourself ring. That which saps your powers

grows ever stronger from this sustenance.
Through transformation, cross the borderline.
What’s your most sorrowful experience?
If drinking you is bitter, turn to wine.

Be, in this night of extravagances,
magics at the crossroads of your senses,
the sense they oddly all cohere.

And when the world no longer knows
you, to the still earth say: I flow.
To the rushing water speak: I’m here.

—

Stiller Freund der vielen Fernen, fühle,
wie dein Atem noch den Raum vermehrt.
Im Gebälk der finstern Glockenstühle
laß dich läuten. Das, was an dir zehrt,

wird ein Starkes über dieser Nahrung.
Geh in der Verwandlung aus und ein.
Was ist deine leidenste Erfahrung?
Ist dir Trinken bitter, werde Wein.

Sei in dieser Nacht aus Übermaß
Zauberkraft am Kreuzweg deiner Sinne,
ihrer seltsamen Begegnung Sinn.

Und wenn dich das Irdische vergaß,
zu der stillen Erde sag: Ich rinne.
Zu dem raschen Wasser sprich: Ich bin.

-Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by H. Landman

Translators are very important.

Rilke is one of my favorite writers. If you haven’t, read his one novel, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Or read Gass writing about Rilke, then dive into his Letter to a Young Poet, and Duino Elegies, and oh my, so much more.

From Letter to a Young Poet:

"NO ONE CAN ADVISE or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must," then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse."

Go on, write. Build your life in accordance with this necessity.