The structure/outline of the poem, the whole “when i look deep in your eyes, i swear …,” came from the James song and inspired me to write something.

I wrote the 1st stanza but also happened to be reading/had recently read Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet and came across some interesting commentary by Rilke in a couple places on the Internet. All of which were mis-attributed to the wrong source. I did some research–with some help–and found the correct source.

Stanza 2 and 3 came from/are inspired by that paragraph. Stanza 4 came from from the 2 later bits in The Poet’s Guide to Life; i.e., from fragments of letters he wrote.

So I don’t think the James song–unless you mean a different song–contains any direct Rilke lines. If you do mean a different song and can find/remember it, please let me know.