Rilke's Book of Hours - Robert Saxton

I’m living at the far edge of the century.     A tremendous leaf is about to turn,     which God, you and I have scribbled on.     I feel the wind that stirs it, teasingly.

I love the inviting blank of the empty page –     unspoiled, a place to record marvellous things.     Silently the Fates, after taking soundings,     look at each other; then dip their pens in rage.

Rilke’s earliest masterpiece is compelling, outspoken, impassioned, strange and wholly alive. It catches the reader off-guard with surprises and frissons of all kinds. Varied and restless, it presents a kaleidoscopic picture of the poet’s complex and shifting relationship with God, which at times feels like a love affair. Key themes include doubt, desire, art, nature, time, nothingness, pilgrimage, the city, poverty and death. All this is set within a vibrant world, peopled by memorable characters, including a young monk…