Seattle Musings

This Page is dedicated to my son Christopher

Quotes from Rainer Maria Rilke, Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist 1875-1926

“Let everything happen to you, beauty and terror.  Just keep going – no feeling is final.”

“Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and border and salute each other.”

“For one human being to love another, that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.”

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.  Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”

“Surely all art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further.”

“Ever since those wondrous days of Creation our Lord God sleeps:  we are His sleep.  And He accepted this in His indulgence, resigned to rest among the distant stars.”

SOME OF CHRISTOPHER’S POETRY – FOLK SONG

Wondering in song

making reasons for the rain

the lessons to be learned from

our cries and chorus common

in the folk song

HUMPBACKS IN BIRDBATHS

playing it safe

a small pond in Podunk

come swim in the deeps

the ocean is calling all humpbacks in birdbaths

Origin (Mother’s Day Poem)

Strong by emotion

the source of a crying creation

nurture and wean, nurture and wean

the sail on the ships

of the sometimes blue risky oceans

a watchful eye

over the whole experiment

she knows the unconditional

a structure with enough give

to weather the storms

and a little alcove to boot

the glue of the family

losing herself in the support

of the children

a generous dollop of compassion

makes a good soul sandwich

especially when the meat

is dry and withered

it goes good

with a side of her powerful affection – C E P

Another powerful quote that Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in “Letters to a Young Poet.”

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart

and try to love the questions themselves,

like locked rooms and like books that are now  written in a very foreign tongue.

Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you

because you would not be able to live th

Thank you Christopher for your poignant poetry.  May your wit and good health be your wealth, love mom