By now you probably all know that Rainer Maria Rilke is my favorite poet. This year I’m reading through a book of his works, A Year With Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke, translated and edited by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows. Rilke has a way of taking me to DEEP TERRAIN, getting inside my head and heart and helping me make important discoveries about myself I might have missed. I feel his words in the pit of my soul.
Now. Since life is full of yin and yang, there has to be a balance of poetry for me to keep me from tipping over! (Which at the moment with the Maesthenia Gravis making me feel like a Weeble would be very easy to do on OH so many fronts! LOL 😀 )
And that’s why S. Thomas Summers, of Writing with Some Ink and a Hammer, is one of my favorite Word Press poets. I also thrive in the OUTER WORLDS he creates. Reading his work is like throwing open the windows to that deep soul reflection place and climbing outside to play. 😀 (I think we may have met in Middle-Earth somewhere in a past life! 😉 )
I was so tickled to read Rilke’s piece this morning and find my friend Scott there! I think what Rilke had to say about Transforming Dragons is exactly what Scott’s poetry is about for me. The paragraph is the perfect marriage of allowing me to understand myself without being frightened of what I might find. In some ways it reminds me of the Tolkien quote I used yesterday. So while Rilke’s poetry almost forces me to grow up, Scott’s poetry allows me to still be a child and know that sometimes things are not always what they seem!
I feel like I’m facing a big Dragon in my life right now, but through it I’m learning about myself and getting a little bit braver every day. It’s nice to know that Dragons have a purpose and that princesses still exist!
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We have no reason to distrust our world, for it is not against us. If it has terrors, they are our terrors. If it has an abyss, it is ours. If dangers are there, we must try to love them. And if we would live with faith in the value of what is challenging, then what now appears to us as most alien will become our truest, most trustworthy friend. Let us not forget the ancient myths at the outset of humanity’s journey, the myths about dragons that at the last moment transform into princesses. Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act just once with beauty and courage. Perhaps every terror is, in its deepest essence, something that needs our recognition or help. (Borgeby gärd, Sweden, August 12, 1904, “Letters to a Young Poet”)
What kind of Dragons do you have in YOUR life?
Jay said:
What a lovely thing to share.
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calensariel said:
🙂
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S. Thomas Summers said:
What a lovely post. Thank you. And Rilke is great.
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calensariel said:
You’re most welcome!
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Opher said:
My dragons are getting older and finding my limitations.
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calensariel said:
Oh Lordy, Opher! That makes two of us. AGING!!! I was 65 and feeling like 50 the first of May and by the end of the month I was 66 and feeling like 75! How did that sucker find me??? 😦
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Jeanne said:
This verse is beautiful and certainly does reach into the soul…my dragons, at the moment, are struggling to stay strong and hopeful for my daughter..and the beauty is standing in awe watching her as the ultimate dragon slayer. So glad you are embracing the dragons.
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calensariel said:
I think you described your daughter so beautifully… She was like a warrior princess through all those trials. She is an amazing young lady!!!
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Kim Echammaal Coull said:
Beautiful…wonderful…xxx
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calensariel said:
I guess I didn’t get them herded all up, did I? LOL
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