Category: poems

Haiku: Giving Thanks to Dankness

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Dankness of the day
A moment’s contemplation
Stillness in the mind

Copyright Francis 2022

Duino Elegies, by Rainer Maria Rilke

I have several books by Rilke, but I think my favourite work is the Duino Elegies.

The poet was born in Prague in a German speaking community and wrote in German most of his life, then in French in his latter years in Switzerland.

So his works have been translated into English, which relies, naturally, on the sensibilities of the translator. Nevertheless, he is very much worth investigating. Few poets have suffered more for their art.

Copyright Francis 2021

Crossroads

I have sought you since the cradle

Thought I’d heard you in the reverb

Of loving feeling

I rejected you when scripture

Was forced upon me

Shouted at you for letting only

The good die young

I gave thanks to you

For giving me companionship

And someone to take my essence

Forward into drastic futures

Now at these stark crossroads

When it seems every way is to lose

I challenge you to answer

To reveal something of yourself

In the substance of my life

Beyond the glorious imagaginings

Of pliant artists and architects

Willing you into existence

To spare these soulless tyrants

Copyright Francis 2021