drink in the life

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A much needed break from school is here and this morning I am back at the Gryphon, bathed in sunshine and drinking chai. Until last week, I had completely different plans for break, but I am grateful to be here with notebook and time and air. Also spent some time with the family in Washington over the weekend. Goodness all around.

And this poem. Oh this poem. How does Rilke know it so well?

"You see, I want a lot.

Maybe I want it all:

the darkness of each endless fall,

the shimmering light of each ascent.

So many are alive who don't seem to care.

Casual, easy, they move in the world

as though untouched.

But you take pleasure in the faces

of those who know they thirst.

You cherish those

who grip you for survival.

You are not dead yet, it's not too late

to open your depths by plunging into them

and drink in the life

that reveals itself quietly there."

[R.M. Rilke, Love Poems to God]

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