Often when I suggest to people that it would be good for them to read more poetry they sigh and reply ‘I wish I could but I just don’t have the time’. But we all make the time to eat every day don’t we and spending time on poems is another form of nourishment.

Part of the answer if you are pressed for time is something like “A Year with Rilke; Daily Reading from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke”. The book contains a short poem or piece of prose for each day of the year (plus an extra day for leap years). Today’s poem is A Circle, written in December 1914 but as true today as it was then.

Allowing yourself to read at least once a day will take no longer than the time to drink your morning tea or coffee or to brush your teeth and you can carry the poem with you for the rest of the day. Don’t be put off by the idea that Rilke is ‘difficult’. This edition of his work by Joanna Macy and Anita Burrows is designed to be readable and accessible. Enjoy.