Thought for the day, Monday 17th November

“Orpheus, do you hear
the new sound,
droning and roaring?
Many now exult in it.

Though the Machine
insists on our praise,
who can listen
with all this noise?

See, it rolls over everything,
weakening us
and taking our place.

Since its strength is of our making,
why can’t it serve us
and not possess us?”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926), Sonnets to Orpheus I, 18, quoted in A Year With Rilke by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

Image: Cigarette Rolling Machine, invented 1880