Songs

I love you, gentlest of ways

by Brad Mehldau

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Text

I love you, gentlest of ways
source: Rainer Maria Rilke

I love you, gentlest of ways,
who ripened us as we wrestled with you.

You, the great homesickness we could never shake off,
you, the forest that always surrounded us,

you, the song we sang in every silence,
you, the dark net threading through us,

on the day you made us you created yourself,
and we grew sturdy in your sunlight....

Let your hand rest on the rim of Heaven now
and mutely bear the darkness we bring over you.

Composer

Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets".He…

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