Autumn
The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no."
And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.
And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no."
And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.
And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.
-Rainer Maria Rilke
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2 comments:
This was one of those poems where I found myself gasping aloud (this is something I do, for example all the way through Invisible Man). Despite the deistic leaning I find this really beautiful. I love coming to your blog and finding poems I never would have encountered on my own.
I'm glad!! The poem had a similar effect on me.
And in regards to its deistic leaning, as you put it, I believe that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Whether or not Rilke was in reality describing a deity as the Someone "holding up the falling," I think it can also be seen as a force of life. Or an idea. Perhaps he is simply describing the order of chaos, or the solace to be found in the idea of eternity.
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