We see only the contours of our feelings from outside. Our thoughts and actions are in conflict so that we do not recognise our true nature. In the end, the poet relies on the girl to call her young man back into the present, give him a day's work to balance his day and contain him. Protective mother love cannot save him, nor can the girl's gentle presence. The power of awakening sex carries the young man into the hidden depths of his origins. The third Elegy is notably different from the others in the directness of its subject.

We have no guide lines and long to master our emotions and be content with simply being human. We lack the classic restraint of the Greeks.Love and Parting, the two poles of our existence, found symbolic expression in Attic Stelae. They know, so far we have neglected our potential and yet, it is their fervent hope one day to be transformed in us, the most transient. Do we leave nothing of us in the universe or do Angels, perhaps, pick up something of our essence? If not Angels, then things we use and pass through have gained by our presence. In the second Elegy, the enigma of the Angel is the preoccupation of the poet, the grandeur and might of his being, his permanence in contrast to our transience. The Elegy concludes with the Lino legend, which brings into our life the consolation of music born of grief. They need him to show that their fate is not seeming injustice. Yet, the poet hears voices in the silence coming from those who died young. The hero has no need of his praise and Saints are too immersed in their devotions. The poet, however, must praise great lovers, above all deserted women. We have a mission we fail to accomplish because we are distracted and see in Creation only promise of a coming lover. Night does not give consolation and deludes even lovers. If not Angels, who else is there for us? Not man, not animals, perhaps only familiar objects and old habits. The force of their being would annihilate him and their beauty is beyond our understanding and therefore terrible. The poet calls out to the Angels but knows he cannot close.

The first Elegy begins with a great cry of need. Original by Ranier Maria Rilke - Translated by Lore Confino

Duino elegy 1