Du mußt dein Leben ändern.

Happy Sunday to everyone! I am really enoying reading your comments on the Blog-o-versarypalooza post! I've already made some changes based on your comments, so keep up the fabulous input!

Now it's time for a little confession... last weekend I did something I've been thinking about for a very long time...

I got a tattoo!

It's a line from a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke and for over 5 years, I've been drawn to this line. I've read multiple dissections of this poem and ultimately what I get out of it is the following:

Rilke stands before the torso of Apollo in the Louvre. He finds himself lacking in comparison to this archetypal image. But he comes to the conclusion that empowerment comes from within: Du mußt dein Leben ändern. You must change your life.

The poem:

Archaic Torso of Apollo

by R. M. Rilke

translated by H. Landman

We never knew his fantastic head,

where eyes like apples ripened. Yet
his torso, like a lamp, still glows

with his gaze which, although turned down low,

lingers and shines. Else the prow of his breast

couldn't dazzle you, nor in the slight twist

of his loins could a smile run free

through that center which held fertility.

Else this stone would stand defaced and squat

under the shoulders' diaphanous dive

and not glisten like a predator's coat;

and not from every edge explode

like starlight: for there's not one spot

that doesn't see you. You must change your life.

Archaischer Torso Apollos

Wir kannten nicht sein unerhörtes Haupt,

darin die Augenäpfel reiften. Aber
sein Torso glüht noch wie ein Kandelaber,

in dem sein Schauen, nur zurückgeschraubt,

sich hält und glänzt. Sonst könnte nicht der Bug

der Brust dich blenden, und im leisen Drehen

der Lenden könnte nicht ein Lächeln gehen
zu jener Mitte, die die Zeugung trug.

Sonst stünde dieser Stein enstellt und kurz

unter der Shultern durchsichtigem Sturz

und flimmerte nicht so wie Raubtierfelle;

und brächte nicht aus allen seinen Rändern

aus wie ein Stern: denn da ist keine Stelle,

die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern.

{bolding added by me}