God Plunged Out of His Hiding Place

First a childhood, boundless and without
negation and goal. O unthinking joy.
Suddenly fright, limit, schoolroom, slavery,
and fall into temptation, into loss.

Defiance. The bent knee now becomes the bender
and seeks revenge on others, makes them succumb.
Loved, dreaded, rescuer, wrestler, victor
and vanquisher, role by role.

And then alone in vastness, lightness, cold.
Yet deep in that erected figure
a breathing toward the First, the Ancient…

Then God plunged out of his hiding place.

[Rilke, "Imaginary Career" (Imaginärer Lebenslauf)]