If you saw Jo-Jo Rabbit, you might remember these lines from Rainer Maria Rilke at the end.
“Go to the Limits of Your Longing”
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
Rainer Maria Rilke, "Book of Hours", I 59 (pub. 1905)
Hm. What do I think of Rilke?
I guess he's in the same category as Mahler for me--someone I loved in my twenties.
I do still like that romanticism. I do.
But... I don't find that hold-your-breath-at-your-preciousness
as attractive--or as necessary--as I did when I was young.
Being old, I don't have to "let" everything happen to me--it just does. I know that's not what's meant, but still... When I was a teenager, I was eager to experience grief.
At this age, I'd be happy to hand it back.
Is there a return counter?
I add in more ridiculousness now, facing the seriousness of life.
