I always wonder if I am a 'good' measure of ambitious or a rather greedy malcontent. Either way, I think I get what Rainer was on about in this piece: there are those who want and work towards it, there are those who are lazy. Like I, Rainer prefers the hard workers because they know to want and will not cease to look for more from life. I just do not want to be a greedy malcontent, not ever. I just do not know how to determine that 'mile marker'.
You see, I want a lot
Rainer Maria Rilke
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shimmering blaze of every step up.
So many live on and want nothing,
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.
But what you love to see are faces
that do work and feel thirst.
You love most of all those who need you
as they need a crowbar or a hoe.
You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.
Rainer Maria Rilke / The Book of the Hours
(translated by Robert Bly: German)
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shimmering blaze of every step up.
So many live on and want nothing,
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.
But what you love to see are faces
that do work and feel thirst.
You love most of all those who need you
as they need a crowbar or a hoe.
You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.
Rainer Maria Rilke / The Book of the Hours
(translated by Robert Bly: German)
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