Rainer Maria Rilke: Only the Maidens Question Not the Bridges That Lead to Dream

As autumn approaches, the heart begins to dream and Rilke’s poems are on my mind….

Max Švabinský, The Confluence of Souls, 1896

MAIDENS. IOthers must by a long dark wayStray to the mystic bards,Or ask some one who has heard them singOr touch the magic chords.Only the maidens question notThe bridges that lead to Dream;Their luminous smiles are like strands of pearlsOn a silver vase agleam.

The maidens’ doors of Life lead outWhere the song of the poet soars,And out beyond to the great world—To the world beyond the doors.

Gaston La Touche, A Maiden in Contemplation, 1893

MAIDENS. IIMaidens the poets learn from you to tellHow solitary and remote you are,As night is lighted by one high bright starThey draw light from the distance where you dwell.

For poet you must always maiden beEven though his eyes the woman in you wakeWedding brocade your fragile wrists would break,Mysterious, elusive, from him flee.

Within his garden let him wait aloneWhere benches stand expectant in the shadeWithin the chamber where the lyre was playedWhere he received you as the eternal One.

Henri Martin, Mystic Scene, 1895

Go! It grows dark—your voice and form no moreHis senses seek; he now no longer seesA white robe fluttering under dark beech treesAlong the pathway where it gleamed before.

He loves the long paths where no footfalls ring,And he loves much the silent chamber whereLike a soft whisper through the quiet airHe hears your voice, far distant, vanishing.

The softly stealing echo comes againFrom crowds of men whom, wearily, he shuns;And many see you there—so his thought runs—And tenderest memories are pierced with pain.