Do you still remember Rome, dear Lou? How is it in your memory? In mine sometime there will be only its waters, those clear, exquisite, animated waters that live in its squares; its steps, built on the pattern of falling water, so strangely thrusting stair out of stair like wave out of wave; its gardens' festiveness and the splendor of great terraces; its nights that last so long, still and filled to overflowing with great constellations.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to Lou Andreas-Salomé, November 3, 1903
