remembrance

The death of a library colleague after a long struggle with cancer has left me searching for words and thoughts that are more profound than the silly attempts at senryu I've been able to come up with so far.

So I return to an old favorite, Rainer Maria Rilke, and his poem "Remembrance". It's a good reminder to live in the now before the now becomes the past that you appreciate too late. I much prefer the original German, so I've included that at the end as well, after the jump.

And you wait, keep waiting for that one thing
which would infinitely enrich your life:
the powerful, uniquely uncommon,
the awakening of dormant stones,
depths that would reveal you to yourself.

In the dusk you notice the book shelves
with their volumes in gold and in brown;
and you think of far lands you journeyed,
of pictures and of shimmering gowns
worn by women you conquered and lost.

And it comes to you all of a sudden:
That was it! And you arise, for you are
aware of a year in your distant past
with its fears and events and prayers.

(Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming)

Erinnerung

Und du wartest, erwartest das Eine,
das dein Leben unendlich vermehrt;
das Mächtige, Ungemeine,
das Erwachen der Steine,
Tiefen, dir zugekehrt.
Es dämmern im Bücherständer
die Bände in Gold und Braun;
und du denkst an durchfahrene Länder,
an Bilder, an die Gewänder
wiederverlorener Fraun.

Und da weißt du auf einmal: das war es.
Du erhebst dich, und vor dir steht
eines vergangenen Jahres
Angst und Gestalt und Gebet.

(From Das Buch der Bilder)