{"product_id":"my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-sweatshirt","title":"My Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Sweatshirt","description":"\u003cp\u003eBerlin, autumn 1899: a rented room in Schmargendorf, twenty-five days, and the whole of Book I of \u003cem\u003eDas Stunden-Buch\u003c\/em\u003e came out of it. Rilke was twenty-three, back from Russia that spring, writing in the borrowed voice of a monk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"I love my life’s dark hours\u003cbr\u003ein which my senses quicken and grow deep,\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRainer Maria Rilke, \u003cem\u003eThe Book of Hours\u003c\/em\u003e (1905), Book I, poem 6\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e— Jessie Lemont translation, 1918. Public domain.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eContext\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLemont’s verb is \u003cem\u003equicken\u003c\/em\u003e. Not soften, not settle — sharpen. The claim the poem makes about the late hour is a physical one: in it the senses take in more, not less.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat puts the dark hour on the same footing as any other working condition. It isn’t a mood you wait out. It’s a state you can enter on purpose — and dress for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWho It’s For\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou’re the one who puts something warmer on rather than go to bed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you’ve ever chosen the cold end of the house because that’s where you think best\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you’ve ever gotten up at one in the morning, pulled something on, and gone back to the work instead of back to sleep\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf the best thing you made this year happened after everyone else had stopped\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStay up.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Design\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRead it as a moon first — heavy along one edge, thinning to nothing along the other — then as what it is: an ensō, the Zen circle made in a single brushstroke and deliberately left unclosed. Both readings are meant to be there. The words go through it rather than around it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing fills the circle. What’s inside it is the sweatshirt, so the color changes the mark: on French Navy the dark runs warmer than black and the ensō reads as a moon, while on Black it reads closer to the brushstroke it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout This Sweatshirt\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis one costs more than the tee. What the money buys is specific: the cotton is certified organic under GOTS and OCS, and the polyester in the fleece is recycled rather than virgin, certified under GRS. Those certifications cover the fiber content of the fabric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8.3 oz\/yd² brushed midweight fleece, built on a 100% organic cotton face\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e80% organic combed ring-spun cotton, 20% recycled polyester\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMedium fit — closer to the body than a relaxed cut\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRib at the collar, cuffs and hem, in 100% cotton with no elastane\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrench Navy or Black\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMachine wash cold, inside out; do not bleach; tumble dry low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eRainer Maria Rilke, in Plain English\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLived 1875–1926 — born in Prague, wrote in German, worked across Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBook I of \u003cem\u003eDas Stunden-Buch\u003c\/em\u003e was written in a rented room in Berlin-Schmargendorf between 20 September and 14 October 1899, months after his first trip to Russia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe wrote it in the borrowed voice of a Russian monk, as a sequence of prayers rather than poems with titles\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInsel Verlag published the finished book — all three parts — in Leipzig in 1905\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRobert Bly’s later English version opens this line “I love the dark hours of my being.” The wording printed here is Jessie Lemont’s, from 1918 — the version in the public domain\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMore from this collection\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-t-shirt\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke T-Shirt\u003c\/a\u003e — the same quote, garment-dyed cotton\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-organic-edition-t-shirt\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Organic T-Shirt\u003c\/a\u003e — the same couplet, on 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-journal\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Journal\u003c\/a\u003e — the line printed unfinished, for writing into the hour\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-phone-case\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Phone Case\u003c\/a\u003e — the same ensō, carried\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rilke\"\u003eThe full Rilke collection\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Quoteiac","offers":[{"title":"Black \/ S","offer_id":43204440490078,"sku":"1991671_20771","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ M","offer_id":43204440522846,"sku":"1991671_20772","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ L","offer_id":43204440555614,"sku":"1991671_20773","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ XL","offer_id":43204440588382,"sku":"1991671_20774","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ 2XL","offer_id":43204440621150,"sku":"1991671_20775","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ S","offer_id":43204440653918,"sku":"1991671_20781","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ M","offer_id":43204440686686,"sku":"1991671_20782","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ L","offer_id":43204440719454,"sku":"1991671_20783","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ XL","offer_id":43204440752222,"sku":"1991671_20784","price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ 2XL","offer_id":43204440784990,"sku":"1991671_20785","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0554\/8664\/4318\/files\/My-Lifes-Dark-Hours-Rilke-Sweatshirt-black.png?v=1787786783","url":"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-sweatshirt","provider":"Quoteiac","version":"1.0","type":"link"}