Launching a public radio show about God and the meaning of life is no easy task. In this episode, On Being host Krista Tippett reads a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke that gave her courage and resolve during the creation of the show in 2003. Today, On Being airs on more than 400 radio stations across the U.S. and is downloaded weekly by thousands of devoted listeners.

Later on, we check the Haiku Hotline for your poems about accompaniment. Our guest curator is Pádraig Ó Tuama. Transcriptions of this week’s featured listener poems are available here.

"God speaks to each of us as he makes us" by Rainer Maria Rilke appears in the collection Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, and published by Riverhead Books. Krista Tippett's most recent book is Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living.

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