valentine's day

do you still remember: falling stars?

do you still remember: falling stars?

how they leapt slantwise through the sky

like horses over suddenly held-out hurdles

of our wishes--did we have so many?---

for stars, innumerable, leapt everywhere;

almost every gaze upward became

wedded to the swift hazard of their play,

and our heart felt like a single thing

beneath that vast disintegration of their brilliance--

and was whole, as if it would survive them!

by

rainer maria rilke (1875 - 1926)