HeartWork: Exploring Rilke’s Poetic Wisdom in Fraught Times

A Retreat at the Columba Hotel on Iona, 22-27 October 2026

Rev Mark s Burrows, Ph.D

What is life for? How do we find the source of our creativity? Can darkness and suffering open us to discovery? What’s the role of solitude in our lives? Such crucial wonderings are central to Rilke’s writings, inviting us to “live the questions” as we practice “heart-work.” Join us as we glean Rilke’s wisdom for living in fraught times like ours. Our focus will be on the Duino Elegies, reading them alongside selections from his earlier poems and letters. Come prepared to “desire the change” (Sonnets to Orpheus II.12) as we explore the creative power of Rilke’s vision. Along the way we’ll find ourselves lured by “the kind of speech where silence reigns,” leading us into “those gentle, mysterious, trembling transformations” of love (Rilke). Our approach will welcome newcomers to Rilke’s poetry as well as those more familiar with his writings.  

This retreat is available to book online now.

About Mark s Burrows

Mark S. Burrows is a prize-winning poet and translator and stands as one of the leading interpreters and translators of Rilke’s poetry today. His interest in spirituality and poetry, and his ability to open poems as spaces of discovery, have made him a popular speaker and retreat leader around the world. He is also well-known for his work on medieval mystics such as Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich, whose writings were shaped by radical imagination. His Rilke publications include Prayers of a Young Poet (The Book of Hours), Sonnets to Orpheus (2024), and Duino Elegies (pub. date September, 2025). He also co-authored, with Stephanie Dowrick, You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (2024), an exploration of Rilke’s poetic vision as a guide for life. Mark lives and writes in Camden, Maine (USA).