Recently I discovered this beautiful sonnet by Rainier Marie Rilke:
Rose, you majesty-once, to the ancients, you were
just a calyx with the simplest of rims.
But for us, you are the full, the numberless flower,
the inexhaustible countenance.
In your wealth you seem to be wearing gown upon gown
upon a body of nothing but light;
yet each separate petal is at the same time the negation
of all clothing and the refusal of it.
Your fragrance has been calling its sweetest names
in our direction, for hundreds of years;
suddenly it hangs in the air like fame.
Even so, we have never known what to call it; we guess...
And memory is filled with it unawares
which we prayed for from hours that belong to us.
~Rainer Marie Rilke The Sonnets of Orpheus, Book 2:VI
I was especially drawn to this line ... In your wealth you seem to be wearing gown upon gown upon a body of nothing but light...
Isn't that just yum?
No matter how many different flowers I photograph for my art, I don't think I will ever tire of shooting different portraits of the rose in her many guises; and for this, on Sacred Life Sunday, I am most grateful.
3 comments:
What a beautiful sonnet! Roses are magnificent flowers in their color, variety and fragrance. I love the delicate feel of their velvety petals.
I dedicated one of my captured firework displays to you, as a mandala. It had your name on it.
www.arteverything.com aka "The Way I See It".
Peaceful,Sacred Sunday!
BEAUTIFUL...you can visually smell them!! Wonderful sonnet also...
well, roses grow well in your neck of the woods, mum. bought an Airplane CD last night - live at Fillmore East circa Woodstock.
The label said "relive ths ummer of love" which was 67 not 69, bu that's record marketing for you.
Close is only good in horse shoes and hand granades....
Peaceful Sunday, despite the ill advised meta.four...
john.anon
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