LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET

My morning contemplative reading began today with the first letter Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to a would-be poet. In it, he encourages his writer to: “Draw close to nature – portray your sorrows and daydreams, passing thoughts and beliefs stirred by a glimpse of beauty. Describe it all with a quiet, humble honesty, using the things themselves, the images of your dreams and the objects of your memories.” **

I will choose a photograph that I love and try to deepen into each as I contemplate the letters.  Rilke advised the young writer to stay away from love poems. “They are overused and have lost their impact.” (This made me smile) **

Here is my first attempt to enter nature through an image. This is one I captured last week.

At first, I see bright morning sun on the remaining golden leaves. Still, cold water. Shadows on the snow. The small dock reaching out over the pond………….

………….remembering…….. feet dangling over water, lost in the quiet. Hours spent outdoors, basking in the warmth of the summer sun. the whisper of the white pines as the breeze lifts their soft needles. The egg salad sandwich and mason jar of milk mother packed for my picnic. The utter contentment of solitude in my beloved woods.

If you will, please contemplate this image and write anything it evokes for you. Thank you.

**translated by Anita Barrows & Joanna Macy