11.21.2010

No. Six

My dear Mr. Kappus,

          I don't want you to be without a greeting from me when Christmas comes and when you, in the midst of the holiday, are bearing your solitude more heavily than usual.  But when you notice that it is vast, you should be happy; for what (you should ask yourself) would a solitude be that was not vast; there is only one solitude, and it is vast, heavy, difficult to bear,f sociability, however trivial or cheap, for the tiniest outward agreement with the first person who comes along, the most unworthy.... But perhaps these are the very hours during which solitude grows; for its growing is painful as the growing of boys and sad as the beginning of spring. But that must not confuse you.  What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. ...

- Excerpt from Letters to a Young Poet, No. 6.  December 23, 1903.  Rainer Maria Rilke

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