Status Updates From مرثیه‌های دوئینو

Third elegy complete!

Two elegies down. 8 to go.

Dug #6 and am scared of #8

I’m trying to read the poems in German before I read them in English, and I’m both finding it challenging (more than anticipated), and finding that I actually am able to make meaning out of the German that I don’t get from the translation, and therefore that this is a helpful and deep process for me. It required a higher attention, which is something I’ve been valuing recently. First elegy read

This was my second Rilke, it definitely won’t be my last.

I’m appalled by the fact that it took me two moths to read this book but thinking about it now, I believe it was for the better. Poems are meant to be read slowly (not that I took my time with them with this hell going on in my life but I tried)

“May I strike my heart’s keys clearly, and may none fail
Because of slack, uncertain, or fraying strings.
May the tears that stream down my face
make more radiant: may my hidden weeping bloom.
How I will cherish you then, you grief-torn nights!”