Fall (Herbst)
The leaves are falling, falling as from far,
from wilting in the heavens' farthest gardens:
They're falling to negate the summer's mirth.
And in the nights the heavy Earth
falls into solitude from star to star.
We all are falling. This my hand here bends.
And look at others: Fall's in all their calling.
And yet there's One, who's holding all this falling
forever tender in His upturned hands...
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke (1902), translated by Walter Aue
Added by anonym
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Fire's Reflection
Perhaps it's no more than the fire's reflection
on some piece of gleaming furniture
that the child remembers so much later
like a revelation.
And if in his later life, one day
wounds him like so many others,
it's because he mistook some risk
or other for a promise.
Let's not forget the music, either,
that soon had hauled him
toward absence complicated
by an overflowing heart....
Translated by A. Poulin
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
My Life
My whole life is mine, but whoever says so
will deprive me, for it is infinite.
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.
No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal-
in the rhythm of my daily soul
I do not desire-I am moved;
by being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors...
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Narcissus
Encircled by her arms as by a shell,
she hears her being murmur,
while forever he endures
the outrage of his too pure image...
Wistfully following their example,
nature re-enters herself;
contemplating its own sap, the flower
becomes too soft, and the boulder hardens...
It's the return of all desire that enters
toward all life embracing itself from afar...
Where does it fall? Under the dwindling
surface, does it hope to renew a center?
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Extinguish Thou My Eyes
Extinguish Thou my eyes:I still can see Thee,
deprive my ears of sound:I still can hear Thee,
and without feet I still can come to Thee,
and without voice I still can call to Thee.
Sever my arms from me, I still will hold Thee
with all my heart as with a single hand,
arrest my heart, my brain will keep on beating,
and Should Thy fire at last my brain consume,
the flowing of my blood will carry Thee.
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Little Tear-Vase
Other vessels hold wine, other vessels hold oil
inside the hollowed-out vault circumscribed by their clay.
I, as smaller measure, and as the slimmest of all,
humbly hollow myself so that just a few tears can fill me.
Wine becomes richer, oil becomes clear, in its vessel.
What happens with tears?-They made me blind in my
glass,
made me heavy and made my curve iridescent,
made me brittle, and left me empty at last.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
What Fields Are As Fragrant As Your Hands?
What fields are as fragrant as your hands?
You feel how external fragrance stands
upon your stronger resistance.
Stars stand in images above.
Give me your mouth to soften, love;
ah, your hair is all in idleness.
See, I want to surround you with yourself
and the faded expectation lift
from the edges of your eyebrows;
I want, as with inner eyelids sheer,
to close for you all places which appear
by my tender caresses now.
Translated by John J.L. Mood
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Water Lily
My whole life is mine, but whoever says so
will deprive me, for it is infinite.
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.
No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal-
in the rythm of my daily soul
I do not desire-I am moved;
by being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors...
Translated by A. Poulin
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Sisters
Look how the same possibilities
unfold in their opposite demeanors,
as though one saw different ages
passing through two identical rooms.
Each thinks that she props up the other,
while resting wearily on her support;
and they can't make use of one another,
for they cause blood to rest on blood,
when as in the former times they softly touch
and try, along the tree-lined walks,
to feel themselves conducted and to lead;
ah, the ways they go are not the same.
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Sense Of Something Coming
I am like a flag in the center of open space.
I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live
it through.
while the things of the world still do not move:
the doors still close softly, and the chimneys are full
of silence,
the windows do not rattle yet, and the dust still lies down.
I already know the storm, and I am troubled as the sea.
I leap out, and fall back,
and throw myself out, and am absolutely alone
in the great storm.
Translated by Robert Bly
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!