Thought for the Day (Rilke's "Memory")

Memory

And you wait, await the 
one thing 


that will infinitely increase
your life;


the gigantic, the

stupendous, 


the awakening of stones, 


depths turned round 
toward you. 


The volumes in brown and 
gold 


flicker dimly on the
bookshelves; 


and you think of lands 
traveled through, 


of paintings, of the
garments


of women lost and found. 


And then all at once you
know; that was it. 


You rise, and there stands 
before you 


the fear and prayer and
shape 


of a vanished year.


~ Rainer Maria Rilke

___________________________

Letters to a Young Poet (GoogleBooks)

Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems (GoogleBooks)

Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (Selections from The Book of Images, The Voices, The Book of Hours, New Poems, Uncollected Poems; Translations by Cliff Crego)

Chapter One, Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke by Ralph Freedman

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (Robert Hass, Editor/Translator)