Every angel is terrifying. And yet, alas,
I sing to you, almost fatal birds of the soul,
knowing what you are. Where are the days of Tobias,
when one of your most radiant stood at that simple doorway,
dressed for travel and no longer frightening
(to the youth who peered out curiously, a youth like him).
Were the archangel now to emerge from behind the stars
and take just one downward step this way:
our own thundering heart would slay us. Who are you?
~ Rilke, from "The First Elegy"
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