Poem of the Month: January 2009

And you wait, keep waiting for that one thing
which would infinitely enrich your life:
the powerful, uniquely uncommon,
the awakening of dormant stones,
depths that would reveal you to yourself.

In the dusk you notice the book shelves
with their volumes in gold and in brown;
and you think of far lands you journeyed,
of pictures and of shimmering gowns
worn by women you conquered and lost.

And it comes to you all of a sudden:
That was it! And you arise, for you are
aware of a year in your distant past
with its fears and events and prayers.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Journal prompts:

• Choose "a year in your distant past." What were "its fears and events and prayers"?
  
  
• Say to yourself, "That was it!" What life experience immediately comes to mind?
  
  
• Stand in front of your bookcase. Allow a book to call to you. Pull it off the shelf and reminisce about the time(s) in your life when it spoke to you.