what birds plunge through

diane celia hodges (dchodges who-is-at interchange.ubc.ca)
Tue, 22 Sep 1998 01:30:00 -0700

I came across this poem by Rainer Maria Rilke - it actually speaks quite
beautfiully to this past discussion of analysis -

[What birds plunge through is not the intimate space]

What birds plunge through is not the intimate space
in which you see all forms intensified.
(Out in the Open, you would be denied
your self, would disappear into that vastness.)

Space reaches *from* us and construes the world:
to know a tree, in its true element,
throw inner space around it, from that pure
adundance in you. Surround it with restraint.
It has no limits. Not till it is held
in your renouncing it is truly there.

(Rilke, _Uncollected Poems_)

I find the last line provocative, particularly in the question of units of
analysis - Not till it is held in your renouncing is it truly there.
diane

"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right." Ani Difranco
*********************************************
diane celia hodges
faculty of education, centre for the study of curriculum and
instruction,
university of british columbia
vancouver, bc canada

snailmail: 3519 Hull Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V5N 4R8