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 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.

Ranier Maria Rilke

You can hear the poem below:

Several members of the Anawim Arts Steering Committee have accepted the challenge of engaging with this poem by Rilke (see related post) and we look forward to sharing their work in our community conversations forum. We welcome and challenge you to join the dialog through any of the practices mentioned above and to share your resulting written or visual art. You can reach us at anawimarts@gmail.com to share your work.