In my life there are many silences.

—JUAN RULFO

What angel, if I called out, would hear me?

And even if one of them impulsively embraced me,

I’d be crushed by its strength. For beauty

Is just the beginning of a terror we can barely stand:

We admire it because it calmly refuses to crush us.

Every angel terrifies. And so I control myself,

Choking back the dark impulse to cry.

—Duino Elegies, RAINER MARIA RILKE, TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY GARY MIRANDA