Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rilke

                                           Archaic Torso of Apollo

                                           We cannot know his inscrutable head
                                           in which the pupils dilated.  However
                                           his torso still glows like a candelabra
                                           in which are his displays, though infrequent

                                           stopping and shining.  Otherwise the bow
                                           of his breast could not dazzle, and
                                           in quiet turns of his loins, a quiver
                                           could not go to every bliss-bearing center.

                                           Otherwise this statue passed time distorted
                                           and shortly, under the weight of a fall, glistened
                                           not unlike the fur of a wild beast

                                           and did not break out of his boundaries
                                           like a star:  because there is no place
                                           that does not see you.  You must
                                           change your life.

                                                            --Translated by Renee Zepeda