I LOVE the ANGELS

Archangel Michael, Zacherlhaus, Brandstätte, Vienna

Archangel Michael, Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angelic
Orders? And even if one were to suddenly
take me to its heart, I would vanish into its
stronger existence. For beauty is nothing but
the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear,
and we revere it so, because it calmly disdains
to destroy us. Every Angel is terror.
And so I hold myself back and swallow the cry ......

Duino Elegies, by Rainer Maria Rilke,
(just one little piece of the First Elegie),
​translated by A.S. Kline