A Flagpole in the Storm

"I am like a flag in the center of open space.
I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live it through,
While the creatures of the world beneath still do not move
in their sleep:
The doors still close softly, and the chimneys are full of silence,
The windows do not rattle yet, and the dust still lies down.

I already know the storm, and I am as troubled as the sea,
I spread myself out, and fall into myself,
And throw myself out and am absolutely alone
In the great storm." 

Rainer Maria Rilke

This is just something that I want to share with those very few who read the meanderings of the corners of my mind. This poem by Rainer Maria Rilke is a recent discovery of mine. I found it in the book entitled She Walks in Beauty by Caroline Kennedy, which is an anthology of poems that she deems to define a woman's life, through stages of love, solitude, friendship, and just day by day. And in the readings of solitude, I found this poem by Rilke. He and I go back a long way, him being my first inspiration to writing and to this day, someone whose writing I treasure and admire. 


While I don't quite know what this poem is about, I do know one thing: solitude isn't always a bad thing. Weathering storms and surviving gives you experience. And while being alone is irritating and sometimes not exactly what you want when you're a freshman in college and trying to find your life-long friends, alone and lonely are two different things.

If you look to the sky, someone's always there.