Rilke: "You must change your life"

Why? Why is dissatisfaction assumed?

I have been staying away from what I think will change me. Then Rilke’s poem, “The Ancient Torso of Apollo,” came to mind. It has the famous line: “You must change your life.” 

When I had Rilke’s poem in front of me, I found myself re-reading each line if the line did not stick. I mean, I was diligently reading the poem and not letting myself skim. If I found I was reading but thinking of something else, then I backtracked and started the line again. Sometimes I went to the beginning of the whole stanza and sometimes I started over from the beginning of the whole poem. I needed to read this poem right. After all, this was the famous poem that said, “You must change your life” and so I’ll be damned if when I get to that line I’m f’ing around and I don’t let it work on me, don’t let it change my life.

I kept reading and then, distracted, started over. Using my finger, I blocked my sight of the next stanza so I could not move ahead until I was completely self-aware and present and ready to…