" supposedly came to the author in a sudden revelation as he was staying in an Italian castle owned by his patron, Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe.  
A translation of this series of poems is included in a recent book by William Gass about "reading" their author.  In the ninth, the author asks why we have to be human rather than a laurel, and concludes that to have been here this once, completely, even if only once, seems beyond undoing.  The first line of the series, "Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?" supposedly came to the author in a sudden revelation as he was staying in an Italian castle owned by his patron, Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe.  FTP, identify this series of ten poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, named for the place where he wrote them.
A translation of this series of poems is included in a recent book by William Gass about "reading" their author.  
the Duino Elegies