Just As The Winged Energy of Delight

Just as the winged energy of delight

carried you over many chasms early on,

now raise the daringly imagined arch

 holding up the astounding bridges.

Miracle doesn’t lie only in the amazing

living through and defeat of danger;

miracles become miracles in the clear

 achievement that is earned.

 To work with things is not hubris

when building the association beyond words; 

denser and denser the pattern becomes—

being carried along is not enough. 

Take your well-disciplined strengths

 and stretch them between two

 opposing poles. Because inside human beings

 is where God learns. 

 --Rainer Maria Rilke 

 translated by Robert Bly