Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke 
- translated by Stephen Mitchell 

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could 
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.


[ Yahia Lababidi's latest book is: "The Artist as Mystic" http://www.onesuchpress.com/index.php/books/121-the-artist-as-mystic ] 

Archaic Torso of Apollo, by Rainer Maria Rilke - Read by Yahia Lababidi

There are very few things we really need in life. Poetry is one of them. I could tell you about my accolades, but they really don't mean a damn thing (other than a good stroke to my ego, and no one is interested in inflated egos). If you want to know if I'm any good, read my work and judge for yourself.

Egyptian-American author of 11 critically-acclaimed books.  Lababidi's latest are: "Quarantine Notes" short meditations composed during our global pandemic & "Learning to Pray" a collection of his spiritual poems & aphorisms.

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/author/yahialababidi