Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainier Maria Rilke, who was born in Prague on December 4, 1875, is today considered one of the great lyric poets. He was unhappy at military and business school, and his relations with his father were difficult. He was

First Elegy, The

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)

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16

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angelic
Orders? And even if one were to suddenly
take me to its heart, I would vanish into its
stronger existence. For beauty is nothing but
the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear,
and we revere it so, because it calmly disdains
to destroy us. Every Angel is terror.
And so I hold myself back and swallow the cry
of a darkened sobbing. Ah, who then can

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