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EVERY ANGEL IS TERRIFYING

EVERY ANGEL IS TERRIFYING

Duino Elegies–Ranier Maria Rilke

Rain

Rain

March 19, 2022 Jerry King Comments 0 Comment

There is a light rain falling.  Rain began yesterday.  I never complain about the rain.  What I fear is drought depriving vegetation of nourishment in the growing season.  Severe drought stresses mature trees, making older trees susceptible to disease.  I feel kinship to trees.  Trees provide shelter to a variety of mammals, birds, even protecting humans from sometimes excessive summer heat.  So, let it rain gently, a day’s long springtime gift from Gaia.

August 1851, walking walking in Sils-Maria, Nietzsche found inspiration in this rock formation.

I think of the eternal return, the idea that everything is recurrent, a cycle of returning events, actions on repeat.  The thought surely arises upon observation of the seasons.  It was a feature of ancient Mediterranean religion.  Nietzsche made much of the idea in his Thus Spoke Zarathustra, seeming to find emotional repose in the thought.  Wikipedia puts the idea well:

If time is infinite, our existence must recur an infinite number of times.

Nietzsche thought that emotional maturity, inner strength of character meant that one would say “yes” to the prospect of living the one life which fate/chance had disposed, over again.  One is able to conclude after a look-back at the journey taken, – all is well.


How about a song to hold onto?  Human Touch by Bruce Springsteen:

Human Touch

By Bruce Springsteen

You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what you don’t surrender
Well the world just strips away

Girl ain’t no kindness in the face of strangers
Ain’t gonna find no miracles here
Well you can wait on your blessings darlin’
But I got a deal for you right here

I ain’t lookin’ for prayers or pity
I ain’t comin’ ’round searchin’ for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch

Ain’t no mercy on the streets of this town
Ain’t no bread from heavenly skies
Ain’t nobody drawin’ wine from this blood
It’s just you and me tonight

Tell me in a world without pity
Do you think what I’m askin’s too much?
I just want something to hold on to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch

Oh girl that feeling of safety you prize
Well it comes with a hard hard price
You can’t shut off the risk and pain
Without losin’ the love that remains
We’re all riders on this train

So you been broken and you been hurt
Show me somebody who ain’t
Yeah I know I ain’t nobody’s bargain
But hell a little touchup
And a little paint

You might need somethin’ to hold on to
When all the answers they don’t amount to much
Somebody that you can just talk to
And a little of that human touch

Baby in a world without pity
Do you think what I’m askin’s too much?
I just want to feel you in my arms
And share a little of that human touch

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