World Was - Rainer Maria Rilke

World was in the face of the beloved –
but suddenly it poured out:
World is outside. World is not to be grasped.

Why did I not drink, as I lifted it,
from the full, the beloved face,
World, so near my mouth scented it?

Ah, I drank. I drank inexhaustibly.
But I was filled up too, by too much
World, and, drinking, I myself overflowed.

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Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) Germany (born Prague)

Translator not stated

Source: Famous Poets and Poems