Du musst dein Leben ändern. (translation from German: You must change your life).
These five words conclude one of Rainer Maria Rilke's most famous poems, "Archaic Torso of Apollo"—a sentence that comes more as a shock than a surprise. The words are so powerful after those they precede that we will never look at ancient sculpture the same way.
Throughout this brief poem (4 stanzas and 14 lines), Rilke contemplates a headless, legless sculpture of Apollo's torso. So much is missing from this work of art, yet what is absent illuminates what is present. The poet has us behold an unmistakable, almost unbearable light bursting with life and energy. Then we suddenly see that we are not the only ones looking, for Apollo is looking at us.
The poem moves our imagination to creating a spectacular image of what once was, and it urges us to realizing a remarkable reality of what can be, which is the ultimate goal of art.
Please read the poem many times: It must change your life.
