This qusetion is engendered by Rilke’s poem, ‘You, Darkness’, printed below my question poem.
Do You Still Have Faith in Nights ?
Darkness, you who gathers everything,
the rills of awareness, and keys to Bohemian
nights, and energies moving therein,
You, whose verse and lyrical prose,
mentored some by Cézanne and Rodin,
became sculpted objects, entities in themselves.
In Ronda, the famous bull-fighting center
in southern Spain, there is tribute to you,
for your work and extended stay.
“Rose, oh pure contradiction, delight
of being no-one’s sleep under so
many lids,” your epitaph.
Apollo, Hermes, and Orpheus no more.
Is that great energy moving near you?
Do you still have faith in nights?
–LE
You, Darkness
You, darkness, that I come from
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes a circle of light for everyone
and then no one outside learns of you.
But the darkness pulls in everything-
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them! –
powers and people-
and it is possible a great energy is moving near me.
I have faith in nights.
by Ranier Maria Rilke – a Bohemian-Austrian poet
CynOp 
3 responses to “A Posthumous Question for Rainer Maria Rilke”
What a wonderful response to the poem. I had to look Rilke up and was intrigued enough to read a couple of his poems. Many of the references in your poem were lost on me, but I still enjoyed the journey and the essence of it.
I have a very superficial understanding of art. Starting with impressionism onwards, everything is a big haze. The one Cezanne exhibition I visited, left me lost and bemused. I guess my brain just isn’t wired that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I think your brain is wired for it, at least what I perceive from your posts that I’ve read so far. You just haven’t found the artist whose work speaks to you yet. Those that speak the most clearly to me are Salvador Dali, Wassily Kandinsky, And I’m also captivated by Frida Kahlo’s body of work.
To me abstract art (both the viewing and the act of creating) is much like meditation, or a musical tone-poem, and sometimes even like stream of consciousness writing. My painting at the top of my post is such and example. As I’m sure you already know, one learns to understand best by doing.
Thank you for your frank and thoughtful comment, for the many you’ve shared recently.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess that it’s about time I visited an art museum again. I went to the National Gallery once. None of the museums in my country can compare. The next best thing are photos on the internet I guess. Thank you for all your encouraging and interesting comments 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person