On Rilke's Sunset...
A series in response to the delicate, expressive and lyrical poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). Deeply spiritual without being religious, Rilke's work gently celebrates the sacred hidden within ordinary objects, in nature, and in human vulnerability. When I need comfort, it's Rilke I turn to.
One moment your life is a stone in you and the next, a star
Glass, sterling silver rope. 40 x 25cm
Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's poem 'Sunset' (Abend)
The storm swirled
Mouth-blown glass bowl balanced on wheel thrown glazed porcelain stem. 30 x 30cm
Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's poem 'The Man Watching' (Der Schauende)
Abend (Sunset)
Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors
which it passes to a row of ancient trees.
You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you
one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth.
leaving you, not really belonging to either,
not so hopelessly dark as that house that is silent,
not so unswervingly given to the eternal as that thing
that turns to a star each night and climbs-
leaving you (it is impossible to untangle the threads)
your own life, timid and standing high and growing,
so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out,
one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.
Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by Robert Bly