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Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower
for soprano, string quartet, and electric guitar
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"Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower"
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29
Translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows, set with permission.
Text note
From Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29 by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows, set with permission.