Tribute to Rilke

I have truly come across a gem, Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet."

'Turn therefore from the common themes to those which your own everyday life affords; depict your sorrows and desires, your passing thoughts and belief in some kind of beauty - depict all that with heartfelt, quiet, humble sincerity and use to express yourself the things that surround you, the images of your dreams and the objects of your memory.'

'If your everyday life seems poor to you, do not accuse it; accuse yourself, tell yourself you are not poet enough to summon up its riches; since for the creator there is no poverty and no poor or unimportant place. And even if you were in a prison whose walls allowed none of the sounds of the world to reach your senses - would you not still have always your childhood, that precious, royal richness, that reasure house of memories? Turn your attention there.'

Reading this thus far has encouraged me to stop being so afraid to write on a medium that reaches an anonymous audience. I believe the following sums it up best: 'And if from this turning inwards, from this sinking into your private world, there come verses, you will not think to ask anyone whether they are good verses... for you will see in them your own genuine possession, a portion and a voice of your life. A work of art is good if it has grown out of necessity.'

So with that said, I hope to finally muster the courage to indulge into my own musings, and then be able to translate these thoughts into words.