Something to aspire to

While still a young man, the poet Rilke stayed with the sculptor Rodin in Paris in order to write an essay on the man and his work. Notwithstanding the immensity the experience had on Rilke (his first great poem ‘The Panther’ resulted because of Rodin’s instructions to him to go to the Paris zoo and observe for days on end, if necessary, one animal until he actually “saw” it) what I really appreciate is how Rilke wrote about his first encounter with Rodin.

Arriving at Rodin’s Place in Meudon

He has received me, but that means nothing untilI tell you how. Thus: the way a beloved place receives you on your return through many tangled trails. A spring which you sang and lived for day and night while you were gone. A grove over whose leafy canopies the birds cast shadows as they fly back and forth. A path along the roses that never ceased to lead you where you needed to go. And like a great dog did he receive me, recognizing me with peaceable, caressing eyes. And like an eastern god, moving only from within his noble calm, and with the smiles of a woman and the eager hands of a child. And he led me around to see the gardens and houses ad studios.

Rilke

Greeting guests and friends with “peaceable, caressing eyes”, the gentle “smiles of a woman and the eager hands of a child” are all attributes I want to emulate and aspire to. Every Monday morning my good neighbour Steve arrives to help me around the gardens, house and studio. “Like a great dog” and “from within a [sometimes] noble calm”, I extend a giant paw of welcome.