Rilke and Russia (no relation)

I read Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties: Translations and Considerations of Rainer Maria Rilke by John J.L. Mood a few summers ago, and there's a particular passage that has remained continuously in my mind. It is a sentiment that is eternally relevant, I think.

"I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other. For, if it lies in the nature of indifference and of the crowd to recognize no solitude, then love and friendship are there for the purpose of continually providing the opportunity for solitude. And only those are the true sharings which rhythmically interrupt periods of deep isolation" ("Letters on Love" 27).

Now, I don't particularly care for the translations Mood uses, I think they are halting and lack poetry (I would say the same about Mood's translations of the poems as well), and I do not have the time to continue the search I just initiated for the original German, but from what I can gather from this passage, I think there are some very provocative suggestions being made.

Perhaps sometime soon I will muse further, but I've finally received my passport and Russian visa (the post office angers me to no end, but there was a saving grace among the others today, let me tell you), which means I am officially going to Russia in nine days - in nine days I will be getting ready to board a plane! - which means there are a million things I have to do to get everything (myself) prepared.

Evidently, one of those things is to breathe, because I just took the deepest breath (twice!), smiled, and felt an enormous sense of well-being (name that song). (Hint: And then I'm happy for the rest of the day, safe in the knowledge that there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it.) It helps that it is an absolutely beautiful day in New York City, and I am relaxing, sitting comfortably in my living room with the window open, the traffic driving by, horns honking, motorcycle revving its engine... This is the life. I just had a lovely weekend out of town, visiting the family, and having the day off today has been marvelous. I may take a little afternoon nap to round things out. Finally, finally, I feel like I can breathe.