This is a book of meditative reading. Each of the sixty-one aphoristic entries aims to interpret Rilkes poetry as a musician might play Debussys Clair de lune, to transpose into the key of language the song, the melody, and the refrain of Rilkes gentle disposition: his recognition of the transience of things; his acknowledgment of the vulnerability and fragility of people, animals, and flowers; his empathy toward those who suffer. The cut flowers gently laid out on the garden table "recovering from their death already begun" in one of theSonnets to Orpheus form a thread now visible now faint through most of this book. And because of the flowers, the concept of gentleness forms another thread, and because of gentleness, handsagents of gentleness throughout Rilkes poetryenfold these pages. The German word leise (gentle, tender, quiet) weaves the first thread; the second is woven by flowers, then by girlshands, then by angels, the beloved, the poor, the dying and the dead, ani