This poem/prayer from Rilke's Book of Prayer caught my attention today. It accurately describes my own inner resistance to what I need most in life, to that which if it overcame me, would be the life of me.
You many unassaulted cities:
Have you never yearned for the enemy,
that he might besiege you
for long irresolute years, until
in hopelessness and hunger you receive him?
He extends like the land beyond your walls,
and he knows he can hold out longer.
Look from your balconies:
there he camps. He does not tire
or diminish in size or strength.
He sends no messengers to threaten
or to promise or persuade.
He who will overcome you
is working in silence.
(Rainer Maria Rilke, I,49, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God)
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