Dove that ventured outside…a poem by Rilke

The Dove that Ventured Outside (Stacy Wills, 2014)

alcohol ink on yupo  4" x 6"

Dove that ventured outside, 

flying far from the dovecote:

housed and protected again,

one with the day, the night,

knows what serenity is,

for she has felt her wings

pass through all distance and fear

in the course of her wanderings.

The doves that remained at home,

never exposed to loss,

innocent and secure, 

cannot know tenderness;

only the won-back heart 

can ever be satisfied:  free,

through all it has given up,

to rejoice in its mastery.

Being arches itself

over the vast abyss.

Ah the ball that we dared,

that we hurled into infinite space,

doesn't it fill our hands

differently with its return:

heavier by the weight 

of where it has been.

-Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)