Merry Christmas . . .
 

and may Orpheus sing for you all this holiday season!

https://www.ablemuse.com/erato/attac...5&d=1514283346

Sorry, Sam, this link seems to have expired.

Merry Christmas,
John

Still doesn't work, Sam.

Still doesn't work, Sam. There is, however, an implication that I'm simply unworthy. Or at least not "in". The link you followed may have expired, or the page may only be visible to an audience you're not in.

I believe it was to have been Sam's response to Rilke's Orpheus. I can't see it either. Perhaps he looked over his shoulder at the last moment.

Never a good idea!
Rilke's "Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes" is a lovely text. This seems to be it in English:

http://www.poetryintranslation.com/P...r_Toc527606964

Cheers,
John

Miss Marple is nearing the truth, based on a chance remark overheard on Chris Childers's Facebook page...

This is the opening of Robert Hunter's translation:

Tree arising! O pure ascendance!
Orpheus Sings! Towering tree within the ear!
Everywhere stillness, yet in this abeyance:
seeds of change and new beginnings near.

And Sam posted this picture on Facebook...

Well! That is indisputably a tree within the ear, and I'd be happy to call it towering. Here is Rilke's German in that sonnet (which isn't "Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes"), from a Danish source:

Da stieg ein Baum. O reine Übersteigung!

Da stieg ein Baum. O reine Übersteigung!
O Orpheus singt! O hoher Baum im Ohr!
Und alles schwieg. Doch selbst in der Verschweigung
ging neuer Anfang, Wink und Wandlung vor.

Tiere aus Stille drangen aus dem klaren
gelösten Wald von Lager und Genist;
und da ergab sich, daß sie nicht aus List
und nicht aus Angst in sich so leise waren,

sondern aus Hören. Brüllen, Schrei, Geröhr
schien klein in ihren Herzen. Und wo eben
kaum eine Hütte war, dies zu empfangen,

ein Unterschlupf aus dunkelstem Verlangen
mit einem Zugang, dessen Pfosten beben, —
da schufst du ihnen Tempel im Gehör.


https://kalliope.org/da/text/rilke2001102301

John, I think I may have destroyed poor Sam's Christmas joke in an effort to be helpful. I just ate up the trail in huge bites without bothering to chew. I wish I hadn't interfered.

Sorry, Sam.