YouTube video description - [Channel: honkyoku]
"Before We are Made" by Ranier Maria Rilke (1875 -- 1926)
poem translated from the German and read by Dr. Richard Borofsky
www.beingtogether.com
shakuhachi flute & drums by Dr. Robert A. Jonas
nature videos & video editing by Robert A. Jonas
rbtjonas@aol.com www.emptybell.org
Translations of this poem, from German to English, differ.
One might translate the title as "Before our Beginning." In this particular translation, Rich speaks of "welken words," which might be translated as "numinous words."
Before the Beginning by Rainer Maria Rilke (Source)
God speaks to each of us as we are made,Note: The translation of the poem above is different from the recitation of the poem in the video below.
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words, the numinous words,
we hear before we begin:
You, called forth by your senses
reach to the edge of your longing.
Become my body
grow like a fire behind things
so their shadows spread
and cover me completely
Let everything into you;
beauty and terror.
Keep going, remember
no feeling lasts forever
Don’t lose touch with me.
Nearby is the land they call life,
you will know it by its intensity.
Give me your hand.
