Two from Rilke

A New Morning

And today, once again, a new morning: bright, with close, rounded clouds that frame expanses of the immeasurably deep sky. Agitation in the treetops. In everything else, restfulness. Windfall of apples. The grass softly invites you to walk out of the house. The dimness inside is alive with lights on antique silver, and their reflections in the looking glass confuse the eye as to what is enclosed within the mirror’s frame.

There are so many days here, none like any other. And beneath all their differences is this great similarity: the gratitude in which they are received.

Rikle, Early Journals

Afterlife

I don’t care for the Christian concept of an afterlife. I distance myself from it ever more, without of course taking the trouble to attack it. It may have its value, alongside so many other metaphysical hypotheses. But for me the danger is that it not only renders what is mortal more vague and inaccessible, but also — because of our longing for the Beyond — it makes us less present and earthy. As long as we are here, and cousin to tree, flower, soil, may all that is near at hand be real to us and enter fully our awareness.

Rilke, letter to Countess Margot Sizzo-Noris-Crouy

Shown along with the photo of the tree is the painting “Lawrence Tree” by Georgia O’Keeffe