Sunday, March 15, 2009

widening circles

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Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen


I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.

I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I've been circling for thousands of years
and I still don't know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?

- Rainier Maria Rilke




graphic: tinypic.com

15 comments:

secretfragileskies said...

What a beautiful post/graphic! This ties in with the Requiem posting. It was for a beautiful friend who died too young.
The funeral was yesterday. Your story broke my heart.

francessa said...

Wow, Lydia, this is a new blog! Widening its circles ....Thanks for the beautiful Rilke poem!

Anonymous said...

Ich bin wie eine Fahne im Winde:
I'm more like a banner in the wind.

Steve Morozumi said...

absolutely beautiful image and poem! thanks much for that Lydia!

-Steve @ fluxlife

Lydia said...

@secret, fragile skies- O, I am so sorry that you have experienced the loss of a young friend. Your post in honor of that person is wonderful, and, as you know, it brought forth one of my memories....

@Francessa- Hey you Internet guru! If you like it then I'm really happy.
Last night I desperately needed to read some Rilke, which is always on my nightstand....

@Hattie- A banner....that's interesting! Wasn't Rilke's mind simply majestic?

@Steve- It makes me feel good to know that it touched your heart. :)

Looking to the Stars said...

So beautiful and moving, thank you. I love it :) It gives words to what I feel in my own heart.

Steve Morozumi said...

hey there Lydia! i just saw your gripe about your white space problem. although it's not considered proper HTML syntax, you can "stack" breaks on top or below the code in each section of your sidebar where you have chosen to use an "HTML/Javascript" sidebar gadget.

a break (or line break) in HTML looks like this:
. it'll change to this:
after you save it in Blogger. doesn't matter, just Blogger strangeness. just want you to know the proper syntax in case you use it outside of Blogger.

for example:




YOUR SIDEBAR CODE WITHIN THE HTML/Javascript Google Blogger sidebar gadget.



this gives me 2 breaks of white space in between the top of this sidebar item and the bottom of the sidebar item on top of it.

i also get 1 break of white space after this sidebar item and before the next one starts.

if you need to insert breaks or white space in between other gadgets that are not "HTML/Javascript" gadgets, just create an "HTML/Javascript" gadget solely for breaks. put however many or few breaks in it as you want:










the example above gives a lot of white space!

after you create a sidebar gadget, you should be able to move it wherever you need it within the same sidebar via drag and drop with your mouse cursor. so, you can put it wherever you want within the same sidebar!

i hope that helps. feel free to email me at fluxlife1@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.

take care, and have a great day! (even though it's Monday) LOL!

-Steve @ fluxlife

Lily said...

interesting poem!
Isn't it also about always taking more responsibility? And doesn' that make us more able?

Thank you Lydia for all your sweet words!!! I am always very touched by your comments on my blog.

While I remember: did you picvk up your award?
Read more here:
http://livinginscandinavia.blogspot.com/2009/03/war-and-truth.html

lots of love, sarah sofia

Anonymous said...

Another beautiful poem Lydia--and one that I've not heard before. I really like the idea of living one's life in ever widening circles--and I believe you and I have both done that.

Thank you for sharing that with us.

Melinda

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

What a wonderful concept. I would like to widen my circles.

Lydia said...

@Looking to the Stars- That's wonderful that you'd find meaningful words for you here.....makes me happy!

@Steve- How absolutely thoughtful of you to take the time to write out these instructions on white space for blogs. I hope that others who might have wondered will find your comment. I've been really sidetracked today so haven't been able to try it since reading this in the morning. In first read I'm not sure I understand where to find the line breaks in HTML but I haven't looked yet so maybe it'll make sense once I do. If not, I will ask you a follow-up question or two. Again, thank you so much! :)

@Sarah Sofia- Your ideas on taking more responsibility in relation to this poem are intriguing! Thanks so much for your comments. And, yes, I did get my marvelous award and appreciate it so much. What I did was put it into a special file in my computer to save!


@Melinda- The concept and the words Rilke used to describe it are really inspiring. You're inspiring too! :)

@Wayfaring Wanderer- Dontcha just love it? I have this particular poem dogeared in the book and I do believe it will be one I'll memorize.

RB said...

I love Rilke, this poem is fantastic, and really speaks to the some of things I've been dealing with lately in terms of being receptive, and even welcoming, to the unknown.

To answer your question, yes, I'm a writer at findingDulcinea, as well as a book critic for popmatters.com. findingDulcinea does have a ton of great of stuff, and it's a great opportunity for a young (ish) writer just getting started.

And thanks for explaining about your blog redesign. You made it sound very doable. But I am still afraid. :)

Lydia said...

@RB- I love Rilke too and I think his work has lessons for us throughout our lives.

Congratulations on the notoriety for findingDulcinea! I must play with the search there. I'll check out popmatters also. What a wonderful opportunity for you, and they are lucky to have your talents on board!

Do the re-do...design, that is, in your own time and when it feels right. :)

Stacey Olson said...

Beautifully done. thanks for sharing

Lydia said...

@Stacey- To have had a real falconer stop by to read this post means so much to me! I saw the practice done a few summers ago at the Oregon Zoo and I was transfixed. What a bond.
Many congrats on being recognized as a Blog of Note. :)

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