The Swan

The Swan

by Rainer Maria Rilke

The laboring through what is still undone

as though legs bound we hobbled along the way

is like the awkward walking of the sawn.

And dying-to let go no longer feel

the solid ground we stand on every day-

is like his anxious letting himself fall

into the water which receives him gently

and which as though with reverence and joy

draws back past him in streams on either side;

while infinitely silent and aware

in his full majesty and ever more

indifferent he condescends to glide.