Falling Stars by Rainer Maria Rilke
(He was born in 1875 in Prague, capital of Bohemia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now the Czech Republic). He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language. Only shortly before his death was Rilke's illness diagnosed as leukemia. He died in 1926.
Do you remember still the falling stars
that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes--do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars: each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.
