As Once the Winged Energy of Delight
As Once the Winged Energy of Delight - context Summary
From the Book of Hours
From Rilke's The Book of Hours, the poem urges a maturing spiritual vocation: the youthful, instinctive joy that once carried you must be transformed into deliberate, disciplined work beyond your private life. By consciously building "bridges" over inner chasms and engaging in an intimate relationship with Things, achievement becomes a granted wonder. The poem frames creativity as a responsibility through which the divine seeks self-knowledge in the human.
Read Complete AnalysesAs once the winged energy of delight carried you over childhood's dark abysses, now beyond your own life build the great arch of unimagined bridges. Wonders happen if we can succeed in passing through the harshest danger; but only in a bright and purely granted achievement can we realize the wonder. To work with Things in the indescribable relationship is not too hard for us; the pattern grows more intricate and subtle, and being swept along is not enough. Take your practiced powers and stretch them out until they span the chasm between two contradictions...For the god wants to know himself in you.
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