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POTD - The Panther by Rainer Maria Rilke

Ryan Nance January 4, 2013

The Panther

by Rainer Maria Rilke

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone. 

The steady eye of RIlke and his ability to bring the invisible just to the edge of visibility have always made him some one I always feel I can feast on.

Rainer-Maria-Rilke-9458930-1-402.jpeg
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More Human Than Human - Animal Portraits by Tim Flach
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Azuki the Hedghog goes Mini-camping
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Nick Brandt's Stunning Photos of Birds Calcified by Lake Natron's Alkaline Waters
Nick Brandt's Stunning Photos of Birds Calcified by Lake Natron's Alkaline Waters
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Zoo Fashion Photos
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Timelapses

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Stunningly Crisp Los Angeles Timelapse
Stunningly Crisp Los Angeles Timelapse
about 7 years ago
The Face of the Sun in Timelapse
The Face of the Sun in Timelapse
about 8 years ago
Full Moon over Downtown LA
Full Moon over Downtown LA
about 8 years ago
Animated Time Quilts by Qi Wei Fong
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In poem Tags rilke, rainer maria rilke, poem
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POTD - Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke

Ryan Nance October 15, 2012

 Archaic Torso of Apollo

by Rainer Maria Rilke 
Translated by Stephen Mitchell

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could 
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

​

The steady eye of RIlke and his ability to bring the invisible just to the edge of visibility have always made him some one I always feel I can feast on.​

​

Rainer-Maria-Rilke-9458930-1-402.jpeg

Other Poems of the Day​

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POTD - For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry by Christopher Smart
POTD - For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry by Christopher Smart
about 6 years ago
POTD - Dire Wolf by Lucie Brock Broido
POTD - Dire Wolf by Lucie Brock Broido
about 7 years ago
POTD - The White Fires of Venus by Denis Johnson
POTD - The White Fires of Venus by Denis Johnson
about 7 years ago
Poem of the Day - Musee des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden
Poem of the Day - Musee des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden
about 7 years ago
POTD - Magdalene—The Seven Devils by Marie Howe
POTD - Magdalene—The Seven Devils by Marie Howe
about 7 years ago
In poem Tags rilke, art

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