| Author Quoted | Rainer Maria Rilke |
| Title Quoted | Das Buch der Bilder |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1965/10/18 |
| Imprint | [S.l.] : [s.n.]. 1902-1906 |
| Quotation | So I share some of Rilke's fear and vulnerability, and it is true. "Der Nachbar" is certainly part of my own experience of "the others"-this is the worst possible admission to make in the current enthusiasm for togetherness. But there is a deep truth in "Der Nachbar." And those who simply rush together will only debase friendship if they never sense one another as "alien violins." It is a very deep poem. The programs of "Klag"-a typical modern experience, trite even this experience. But under it the modern lostness, at least one star has not gone out-perhaps. One stands firm like a white city stud where the beam begins. I read Rilke, then sing the poems aloud, making up Lieder. They are very moving. I keep notes on them. The world of spiritual senses in Rilke! How did I get this book? Yesterday after the High Mass I went to the library and was "told" to go to the poetry shelf and look. I came up with this and Peter Levi (whose stuff I greatly admired already two years ago). This has been very healing. I needed it. |
| Quotation Source | Dancing in the Water of Life: Seeking Peace in the Hermitage. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 5, 1963-1965.; Edited by Robert E. Daggy. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1997, p. 305 |
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| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
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