Advent

The wind in the winter wood

Drives the snowflake flock like a shepherd.

A fir tree, sensing how soon

She will be lit with holiness,

Strains to listen. She stretches wide

Her branches to the white paths,

Braced to brave the wind, growing

Toward that glorious night.

– Rainer Maria Rilke, born this day in 1875,

     translated by Jenn Cavanaugh