Rilke on Darkness

I brought Rilke's Book of Hours to read as a sacred text.

You, darkness, of whom I am born--

I love you more than the flame
That limits the world
To the circle it illuminates
And excludes all the rest.

But the dark embraces everything:
Shapes and shadows, creatures and me,
People,nations--just as they are.

It lets me imagine
A great presence stirring beside me.

I believe in the night.