“Death is great.
We are his completely
with laughing eyes.
When we feel ourselves immersed in life,
he dares to weep
immersed in us.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Images
Image by Kirsten Sims
Death is great
Tag: Rainer Maria Rilke
Tea Time With a Hummingbird
“I have often wondered whether especially those days when we are forced to remain idle are not precisely the days spend in the most profound activity. Whether our actions themselves, even if they do not take place until later, are nothing more than the last reverberations of a vast movement that occurs within us during idle days.
In any case, it is very important to be idle with confidence, with devotion, possibly even with joy. The days when even our hands do not stir are so exceptionally quiet that it is hardly possible to raise them without hearing a whole lot.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters on Life (1875-1926)
Painting: Tea time with a Hummingbird 2 by Jai Johnson
Death stands there
“Death stands there, a bluish concoction
in a saucerless cup.
Curious place for a cup:
it stands on the back of a hand. You recognise,
only too well, the spot where the handle broke off
on its glassy curve. Dusty. And ‘Hope’
in exhausted letters on its side.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters 1910-1926
(Ceramic cup by Clare Conrad)
Luckily, Robert came by
Robert came by this morning to see if his book Creation Myths had arrived. It hadn’t. As usual he is not perturbed. There is a copy of Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism here, he is completely pleased, it turns out to be a book that is important to him and its poor condition does not deter him. He says that everybody should read it.
Robert, at the moment, is reading heavily. He is reading Jung, Freud, Marie Louise Von Franz, Arthur Avalon and he is reading art, history, mysticism and the ancient plays. He says that his wallet is empty because Centrelink have done something with his aged pension. And he says his gaze is overcrowded at the moment but that these things are of no matter because they are conducive to good work.
I have had no other customers today and I am glum. Robert says: not to worry.
I am reading In the Company of Rilke and there is time so I use it all to tell Robert why. He is always impressed by any book that has been chosen, no matter the reason. He is in complete agreeance on its importance, we concur on conclusions: Rilke the Visionary, Rilke the Mystic, Rilke the Consolation…. we look at the book and both of us are blinded by its sun.
Artwork by Blenda Tyvoll
Noah Reads
Noah reads like a proper reading person, that is, he reads like himself.
He is a year old. When he examines the book, the front and back, the bottom and top, each page on a useful hinge, the last page an attractive gate, nobody knows (except for him) what he is thinking, believing or eating.
Noah reads at an alarming rate, this will continue until formal instruction begins and then he will slow down to a courteous pace; he is already a thoughtful baby. He will travel thoughtfully through reading requirements. But alone, he will soar with closed eyes, apologetic of recommended titles, he will read the same book over and over, re read old books, re read easy books, insist on reading difficult books, put aside appropriate books and be kind but not enthusiastic about reader stars for progress, charting instead, his own country which will feature a starscape that only he can track.
Noah watches his own parents read. His house is growing a garden outside and a library inside. The library is without plan, format or sensible guidelines. The books are filed according to where they land. There are old books, new books, worn out books and well read books all in together, a mother country with no end page but requiring a heavy reference: it must be a book someone may want to read some day. Volumes that do not wear this badge are shelved anyway.
Noah travels this realm of gold somewhat carelessly, after all, it has always been there. Its gilt influence on his life may go unnoticed, or maybe not. Everybody reads differently.
Some people read for recovery, relaxation, distraction.
Some people read for accomplishment, achievement and knowledge.
Some people read to accumulate data, settle argument, prove frontiers.
This, then, for Noah, a beautiful infant in a great age, the digital age: that he might forgo analysis for listening. That he will pursue the tentative and the original. That he will take terrible risks and abandon the surface of things.
That he might reach air’s other side… ( Rainer Maria Rilke )
The Book Keeper Book Shop 