Up: [[Mythology and Fairy Tales]] Created: 2022-12-11 They called her old even long ago. But she kept living on, coming down the same street day after day. They began to reckon her age in centuries, the way they do with forests. There she was every evening, standing in the same place like the tower of a ruined fortress, unbent and hollowed out by fire. Words that, against her will, swarmed within her, now fly around her, shrieking, while others that she still holds back, lurk in the caverns of her eyes, waiting for night. ##### [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], *New Poems* #### Note Sibyl is actually the correct spelling for an ancient prophetess. In *A Year with Rilke*, the poem is spelled with the girl’s name Sybil. Online, some versions are showing Sybil, some Sibyl. And many are showing that the poem title is ‘a’ not ‘the’. I’ve made a note about [[Sibyl or Sybil, a Greek Prophetess]]