Sonnets to Orpheus (II - 12)
Choose to be changed. Be inspired by the flame
Where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Who pours out like a fountain, knowing knows him:
Who pours out like a fountain, knowing knows him:
And leads him delighted through the bright creation,
That often ends with the start, and begins with the end.
Every fortunate space is a child or grandchild of parting,
for that which is stored up, drains away. And Daphne, altered, becoming a laurel,
dares you to become the wind.
-- Rainer Maria Rilke (translated from multiple sources, a mix)