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Unknown (recovered Nazi art)
Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan
Gabriel Grün
Leda
Leda
When the god, yearning, entered the swan,
swan splendor shattered him. He let himself
vanish within its flesh, completely entangled.
Trying to fool her, though, he was drawn to the act
before he could probe what it meant to be and to feel
in this strange way. And what gaped wide in her
already sensed that advent in the swan
and knew: he asked for the one thing that she,
tangled in resisting him, could no longer
withhold. He came at her harder,
and thrusting his neck through her hand growing weaker and weaker
he let his godhead disperse into what he loved.
Only then did he realize feathers were glory
And fully became swan in her womb.
When the god, yearning, entered the swan,
swan splendor shattered him. He let himself
vanish within its flesh, completely entangled.
Trying to fool her, though, he was drawn to the act
before he could probe what it meant to be and to feel
in this strange way. And what gaped wide in her
already sensed that advent in the swan
and knew: he asked for the one thing that she,
tangled in resisting him, could no longer
withhold. He came at her harder,
and thrusting his neck through her hand growing weaker and weaker
he let his godhead disperse into what he loved.
Only then did he realize feathers were glory
And fully became swan in her womb.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~
