Alone In The World And Yet Not Alone

(Found here)

I am too alone in the world and yet not alone enough

to make each hour sacred.

I am too slight in the world and yet not slight enough

to be to you like a thing—

dark and shrewd.

I want my will and I want my will to lead me

along the path to action;

and want in those quiet, hesitating moments

when something is about to happen,

to be with the wise ones

or alone.

I want always to reflect the whole form of you,

and I want never to be blind or too old

to lift your heavy, wavering image.

I want to unfold.

I want never to remain bent,

for where I am bent I am false to you.

And I want my senses

to ring true before you. I want to describe myself

like a painting I looked at

for a long time and from up close,

like a word that I grasped,

like my everyday jug,

like the face of my mother,

like a ship

that bore me

through the deadliest storm.

~Rainer Maria Rilke (from Book of Hours: Love Poems to God — translated by Edward Snow — re-post but different translator)