Ah, Rilke

Summer reading has begun! First up: Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. I've read some of this before, but I didn't have much head space to fully absorb it then. It's not a long book, but it takes time to read because one must take it in slowly.... here are some excerpts from the early 20th century German poet:

Things are not all so comprehensible and expressible as one would mostly have us believe; most events are inexpressible, taking place in a realm which no word has entered, and more inexpressible than all else are works of art, mysterious existences, the life of which, while ours passes away, endures.

A work of art is good if it has sprung from necessity.

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.

How lovely it is to read these words on a rainy morning with a cup of tea while my dear Evelyn sleeps in the next room.