Being Thoughtful

A friend of mine is working on NaNoWriMo this year, and I've volunteered to be his cheerleader, occasionally sending him interesting words or thoughtful descriptions of things. The discourse has turned into what's almost a poetry exchange, and in sending along one of my favorites, I discovered a stanza that I'm very much enamored of: the first stanza of Rilke's second Duino Elegy.

"Every angel is terrifying. And yet, alas, I invoke you,

almost deadly birds of the soul, knowing about you.
Where are the days of Tobias, when one of you, veiling his radiance,
stood at the front door, slightly disguised for the journey, no longer appalling;
(a young man like the one who curiously peeked through the window).
But if the archangel now, perilous, from behind the stars took even one step down toward us:
our own heart, beating higher and higher, would beat us to death.
Who are you?"

I strongly recommend reading both of the Duino Elegies, available here: http://homestar.org/bryannan/duino.html

In other news, life is good.