To be Caesar is to seem unmoved,
withstanding and withholding many things.
His advisor found him in the tower,
holding forth by night on that high art
in keen and princely words, to waiting scribes;
for many times in distant, empty halls
he had walked entire nights alone,
bearing on his arm an untamed bird,
strange and savage, with her eyes sewn shut.
Any plans that sprang up in him then,
any tender strain of memory
that sang in him, that sounded in him still,
he would cast aside without a thought
for the sake of that young, frightened
falcon, her blood and her sorrow
all he would allow himself to grasp.
So he felt himself unleashed in turn
when that bird lords hold in high esteem,
thrown gleaming from his hand, up
into their clear spring morning,
fell upon the heron like an angel.
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1908
A reading of the original text:
This is outstanding! Makes me want to go give Rilke another try—he’s never been one of my faves, but I suspect that’s my fault, not his.
Excellent work S and E! Also there's real music in the recording!