you, darkness,

of whom I am born –

I love you more

than the flame that limits the world

to the circle it illuminates

and excludes all the rest.

but the darkness embraces

everything – shapes and shadows,

creatures and me –

people, nations, just as they are.

It lets me imagine

a great presence stirring beside me.

I believe in the night.

-       

Rainer Maria Rilke