Extinguish Thou My Eyes
Extinguish Thou My Eyes - meaning Summary
Devotion Beyond the Body
Rilke’s poem asserts an unshakeable, transcendent devotion that outlives and overrides the body’s senses and organs. The speaker imagines losing sight, hearing, speech, movement, limbs, and even heart, yet insists on still perceiving, approaching, holding, and carrying the beloved. Physical annihilation cannot extinguish inward fidelity; spiritual union persists through mind, blood, and imagined continuity. The tone is resolute and metaphysical rather than literal.
Read Complete AnalysesExtinguish Thou my eyes:I still can see Thee, deprive my ears of sound:I still can hear Thee, and without feet I still can come to Thee, and without voice I still can call to Thee. Sever my arms from me, I still will hold Thee with all my heart as with a single hand, arrest my heart, my brain will keep on beating, and Should Thy fire at last my brain consume, the flowing of my blood will carry Thee.
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