from Rilke's First Elegy

...Fling the emptiness out of your arms
into the spaces we breathe; so that in the expanded air
birds might feel themselves more inwardly flying.
Yes, the springtimes needed you. There were stars
counting on you to sense them. A wave rose toward
you in the past, or when you walked by an open window
a violin gave itself up to you. All this
was commission. Were you up to it?
Weren't you always distracted by expectation?

Obama on Fatherhood...