The Great Deception

Life Preservers - Vol. 00.67

The Great Deception

Because you overvalue victory,
you think you have achieved something
that was already there;
something true and real,
without moral energy.

Your life -
with so many good wishes -
life yearned out of childhood,
is of no great significance.
That is why your victory
is “The Great Deception.”

Source Material: Rilke, Rainer Maria. “Letters To A Young Poet.” Translated by Stephen Mitchell, The Modern Library, 1984, pp. 96 - 2020