Go to the limits of your longing

In response to my last blog post, a very thoughtful Loretto Sister sent me a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. It’s a beautiful poem and so I would like to share it here.

“Go to the Limits of Your Longing”

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
Go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

— Rainer Maria Rilke

You can hear it read by Joanna Macy here.