What we conquer are the small things

What we conquer are the small things,
and victory itself makes us small.
The Eternal and Un-commmon
does not want to be shaped by us.
This is the Angel who to the wrestlers
of the Old Testament appeared:
when the sinews of his adversaries
in the battle stretch metallically
he feels them under his fingers
like the strings of profound melodies.

Who was overcome by this Angel
who has oft from battle abstained,
he walks justified, upright
and proud out of that hard hand,
which as if molding, gently encloses him.
Victories are not inviting to him.
His gain is to be profoundly vanquished
by ever greater things.

(p. 318, Reiner Maria Rilke, quoted in Hieke A. Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil)

Genesis 32 is a difficult passage for me to understand. I'm not sure that this German poem is correct as an interpretation of the passage, but nevertheless it contains some wonderfully expressed truth.