Duino stays with angels, invisible,
the count fl ew to London,
the audience is cancelled…
However, the baroness… would like to remember,
the book of Marie von Th urn und Taxis lies on the table,
a manuscript as beautiful and mysterious as those times,
those times…
“On this estate, while fl eeing, the French dauphins found
a hiding place and a shelter…”
Surely Rilke used to come here for tea,
when he got tired of Duino. We can guess why.
We join in silence with his invisible breath.
Th e baron remembers those times.
In three languages of the Old Empire.
“Slovaks were excellent villeins.”
And yet his leaving hand shakes our one
on taking leave.
………………………………………………..
Th e encounter of two worlds could be
the encounter of the third kind.
Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe was Rilke’s patroness, friend and advi ser. The
poet stayed frequently in her castles, including Duino, near the Adriatic coast, close
to today‘s Italian-Slovenian border and the mansion in Gorizia where baron’s ancestry
used to live. (Author’s note)