21 November, 2011

Rilke - On Loneliness

Reading Rilke. He continues to be one of my favorite poets and everytime I read his poems, they never fail to move me. Here is a beautiful one on Loneliness.

Einsamkeit ist wie ein Regen.
Sie steigt vom Meer den Abenden entgegen;
von Ebenen, die fern sind und entlegen,
geht sie zum Himmel, der sie immer hat.
Und erst vom Himmel fällt sie auf die Stadt.

Regnet hernieder in den Zwitterstunden,
wenn sich nach Morgen wenden alle Gassen
und wenn die Leiber, welche nichts gefunden,
enttäuscht und traurig von einander lassen;
und wenn die Menschen, die einander hassen,
in einem Bett zusammen schlafen müssen:

dann geht die Einsamkeit mit den Flüssen...

                                   ---------------------+++++++++++++-----------------------
Loneliness is like rain.
It rises from the sea to meet the evening;
from the plains, which are far and remote,
it ascends to the heavens, it always has.
And it is from the heavens that it falls upon the city.

It rains down into the twilight hours,
when all alleys turn to face the coming dawn,
and when two bodies, that have found nothing,
disappointed and sad, let go of one another;
and when those who hate one another,
must sleep together in the same bed:

then - loneliness flows with the rivers...

Can there be a more vivid imagery?

22 July, 2011

Thought for the day

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
~ Mark Twain        

10 June, 2011

Thought for the day

crushed paper
Image by J.P. Ferreira used under a Creative Commons License (CC BY 2.0)







You cannot avoid the journey by refusing to look at the map...






09 February, 2011

Revelation - A Poem

Re-discovered this one from my Notes page on FB. Written a long time ago...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What does she tell you, the sea,
as you tread the sands quietly
lost in thought?

What are you thinking of?

Are those tomorrow's dreams, gently
lapping the shores of your heart? Or,
are they memories of some yesteryear,
rising, Kraken-like, from the depths,
threatening to drag you down?

And the sea? What does she
whisper in your ear?

Does she speak to you of her vastness,
her soul, the great calm of her depths
that sustains and cherishes life, even as
her surface is ravaged by a deadly storm?

Listen to her ageless wisdom;
For she reveals to you the mysteries of
the never-ending ebb and flow of life.

And in listening, know this -
that unless a ship leaves the safety
of its charted course,
it can never discover a new world...

~©Aparna Ray
   24/11/08