Rilke is a German poet who writes a lot through the eyes of people who have somehow lost their way in life. In his most well-known work, The Book of Images, he writes from the perspective of what it feels to be a beggar, blind man, widow, drunkard, and many others. So it should come as no surprise that in this book there are also a lot or poems about loneliness. The reason his poems are so affecting is that he writes with a compassion that soon lets the reader know he may also be writing with a message of comfort for their thoughts of loneliness and fear as well.

Here, the assignment is to read the Rilke poem below. Think about it by yourself and then talk with your group about what moved you. Afterwards, look around outside and pick a single, somber image that grabs your attention – maybe a crumpled dandelion, still pool of water, or dilapidated shack. Consider how it makes you feel, what it makes you think about, a memory it brings to mind. Then write a short poem about the image in your head. Most importantly, look for something comforting amidst the sadness and make sure to include it so that the story of your poem ends differently than it seems to begin.

AUTUMN

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far off,
as if in the heavens distant gardens withered;
they fall with gestures that say “no.”

And in the nights the heavy earth falls
from all the stars into aloneness.

We are all falling. This hand is falling.
And look at the others; it is in them all.

And yet there is One who holds this falling
with infinite softness in his hands.



The Book of Images,
by Rainer Maria Rilke,
translated by Edward Snow,
North Point Press, pg. 85