Two For Posterity

[greenstorm]

Lending Out Books

You're always giving, my therapist said.
You have to learn how to take. Whenever
you meet a woman, the first thing you do
is lend her your books. You think she'll
have to see you again in order to return them.
But what happens is, she doesn't have the time
to read them, & she's afraid if she sees you again
you'll expect her to talk about them, & will
want to lend her even more. So she
cancels the date. You end up losing
a lot of books. You should borrow hers.

-Hal Sirowitz

Love Song

How can I keep my soul from touching yours?
How can I lift it o'er, to other things?
Oh, how I'd love to take and shelter it
Among lost things - some dark and silent place
that wouldn't tremble when your being stirs.
But everything that moves us, you and me
Binds us together, like a fiddler's bow
that from two strings draws out one lovely voice.
Across what instrument are we two spanned?
And what musician holds us in his hand?
Oh sweetest song.

(She takes a few liberties in translation for sake of meter. The original, read out loud in German, is very beautiful:)

Wie soll ich meine Seele halten, daß
sie nicht an deine rührt? Wie soll ich sie
hinheben über dich zu andern Dingen?
Ach gerne möcht ich sie bei irgendwas
Verlorenem im Dunkel unterbringen
an einer fremden stillen Stelle, die
nicht weiterschwingt, wenn deine Tiefen schwingen.
Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich,
nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich,
der aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht.
Auf welches Instrument sind wir gespannt?
Und welcher Geiger hat uns in der Hand?
O süßes Lied.

Rainer Maria Rilke