Life in Circles — Rilke Organic Edition T-Shirt

"I live my life in circles that grow wide and endlessly unroll."

Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Hours (1905, tr. Jessie Lemont, 1918)

A poem about depth gathered by returning rather than pressing on. The Book of Hours moves in circles across its three parts (1899–1903), each one coming back to the same questions from further out. This line is that motion: not progress, not destination, but a life that keeps widening past its own edges.

The circles that widen are the life you're living. This tee is made for wearing while you figure that out — in organic cotton.

The Design

Concentric arcs sweep across the garment — the poem's image made material. The suggestion of a circle that keeps expanding past the edge of the fabric.

The arcs are warm burnished against the deep charcoal — the color of something that has been worn and held, not something shiny or new. The quote runs through the center of that motion.

About This Tee

• 100% organic ring-spun cotton (GOTS certified)
• Fabric weight: 5.6 oz/yd² (190 g/m²)
• Relaxed unisex fit with set-in sleeves
• Side-seamed construction to keep its shape
• Ribbed collar built for everyday wear
• Pre-shrunk and machine washable
• Quoteiac logo on the left sleeve

Who It's For

The person who cares what their clothes are made of, not just what they say. The one who has been living in circles long enough to recognize the pattern as intention, not failure. Anyone for whom a poem is not decoration but orientation.

Wear the widening.

More in this set: Life in Circles Tee (standard cotton) and Life in Circles Tumbler.

Rainer Maria Rilke, in Plain English

• Lived 1875–1926, born in Prague, died in Switzerland
• The Duino Elegies, begun at Duino Castle in 1912, took roughly a decade to finish — completed in an intense burst in early 1922
• New Poems (1907–08), written in Paris while he worked as Rodin's secretary, turned his attention to the "thing itself" — the object rendered with sculptural clarity
• Letters to a Young Poet — ten letters (1903–1908) to a young military cadet who asked whether his poems were any good; Rilke redirected him from outside approval to inner necessity

Size Chart (Stanley/Stella)

EU sizing — measurements run true but labels differ from US standards; check the chart.