“Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower” by Rainer Maria Rilke

<p>We’ve noticed that many people have been seeking out this poem by Rilke on our website this week. It feels like a meditation and a salve for this fraught, uncertain moment in the world. So, we’re sharing it here as well. </p><p>Rainer Maria Rilke was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. His poem, “Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower,” is read here by Joanna Macy. It was translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows, and originally read in the <i>On Being </i>episode “<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/joanna-macy-a-wild-love-for-the-world/" target="_blank">A Wild Love for the World</a>.” Watch a film version of this poem on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9waa9Q-RZxQ&t=27s" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>. (edited) </p>