Palm II

pencil on pink paper 13" x 19" 1999 private collection

Palm

Interior of the hand. Sole that has come to walk
Only on feelings. That faces upward
And in its mirror
Receives heavenly roads, which travel
Among themselves.
That has learned to walk upon water
When it scoops,
That walks upon wells,
Transfiguring every path.
That steps into other hands,
Changes those that are like it
Into a landscape;
Wanders and arrives within them,
Fills them with arrival.

by Rainer Maria Rilke
translation: Stephen Mitchell