Secular or Eclectic Poetry read by Paula Wales

Priceless Gifts

by Anna Swir

English version by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan
Original Language Polish

An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.

I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.

Alena Smirnova - Just a waltz
Source: FreeMusicArchive

Priceless Gifts by Anna Swir (Alena Smirnova - Just a waltz)

Priceless Gifts by Anna Swir

English version by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan
Original Language Polish

An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.

I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.

Music: Alena Smirnova - A la la land 
CC BY licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: freemusicarchive
Image: ZigmarsBerzins (Pixabay)

Priceless Gifts by Anna Swir (Alena Smirnova - A la la land CC BY)

A Walk

by Rainer Maria Rilke

English version by Robert Bly
Original Language German

My eyes already touch the sunny hill,
going far ahead of the road I have begun.
So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;
it has its inner light, even from a distance--

and changes us, even if we do not reach it,
into something else, which, hardly sensing it,
we already are; a gesture waves us on,
answering our own wave...
but what we feel is the wind in our faces.

Music: leaves-in-the-wind-classic-harp-and-acoustic-guitar-music-10873 JuliusH (Pixabay)

A Walk by Rainer Maria Rilke

Want the change
by Rainer Maria Rilke

English version by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
Original Language German

Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.

What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.

Pour yourself out like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.

Every happiness is the child of a separation
it did not think it could survive. 
And Daphne, becoming a laurel,
dares you to become the wind.


Music: upbeat-cinematic-strings-186332 The_Mountain (Pixabay)
Image: Hans (Pixabay)

Want the change - Rainer Maria Rilke

We are the driving ones
by Rainer Maria Rilke

English version by Stephen Mitchell
Original Language German

We are the driving ones.
Ah, but the step of time:
think of it as a dream
in what forever remains.

All that is hurrying
soon will be over with;
only what lasts can bring
us to the truth.

Young men, don't put your trust
into the trials of flight,
into the hot and quick.

All things already rest:
darkness and morning light,
flower and book.

Music: emotional-piano-sad-background-music-for-videos-5688 - Lesfm (Pixabay)
Image: StockSnap (Pixabay)

We are the driving ones - Rainer Maria Rilke

You who let yourselves feel: enter the breathing
by Rainer Maria Rilke

English version by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
Original Language German

You who let yourselves feel: enter the breathing
that is more than your own.
Let it brush your cheeks
as it divides and rejoins behind you.

Blessed ones, whole ones,
you where the heart begins:
You are the bow that shoots the arrows
and you are the target.

Fear not the pain. 
Let its weight fall back into the earth;
for heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas.

The trees you planted in childhood have grown
too heavy. You cannot bring them along.
Give yourselves to the air, to what you cannot hold.

Music: beautiful-piano-115480 Lesfm Pixabay
Image:  JacksonDavid (Pixabay)

You who let yourselves feel enter the breathing - Rainer Maria Rilke

Reading Aloud with background music. Sacred poetry from different contemplative traditions for your spiritual practice. Some eclectic poetry and guided meditations too. See playlists.