joni mitchell

The image of love as the touching of souls is borrowed from the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, which Mitchell has acknowledged. What Mitchell does with the borrowing is the interesting part. She does not just quote the idea. She takes the idea and turns it back on the lover. You said love was touching souls, she says. Fine. Then you touched mine. The proof is that I am writing this song. The proof is that part of you is pouring out of me right now, into these very lines.