Description
Book SynopsisThis is a book of meditative reading. Each of the sixty-one aphoristic entries aims to interpret Rilkeâs poetry as a musician might play Debussyâs Clair de lune, to transpose into the key of language the song, the melody, and the refrain of Rilkeâs gentle disposition: his recognition of the transience of things; his acknowledgment of the vulnerability and fragility of people, animals, and flowers; his empathy toward those who suffer.
The cut flowers gently laid out on the garden table recovering from their death already begun in one of theSonnets to Orpheus form a thread now visible now faint through most of this book. And because of the flowers, the concept of gentleness forms another thread, and because of gentleness, handsâagents of gentleness throughout Rilkeâs poetryâenfold these pages. The German word leise (gentle, tender, quiet) weaves the first thread; the second is woven by flowers, then by girlsâ hands, then by angels, the beloved, the poor,
