“The task of all tasks is to transform what is insignificant into greatness, what is inconspicuous into radiance; to present a speck of dust in a way that shows it to be part of the whole so that one cannot see it without also instantly seeing all of the stars and the heavens’ deep coherence to which it intimately belongs.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

“But my life, oh, my life, had been a constant search for an
enormous dream in which my fellow creatures and animals, plants, chimeras,
stars, and minerals were in a pre-established harmony, a dream that is forgotten
because it must be forgotten, and is sought desperately, and only sporadically
does one find its tragic fragments in the warmth of a person, in some specific
situation, a glance—in memory too, of course, in some specific pain, some
moment. I loved that harmony with a passion; I loved it in voices, voices. And
then, instead of harmony, there was nothing but scraps and tatters. And perhaps
that alone is what it means to be a poet.”

~ Aleksander Wat, from My Century

(This was originally supposed to be my Easter post. Sorry.)

Advertisement