RILKE | July: Moments Out of Time

Mountain Stream, the Alps "Whoever you are: step out in to the evening
out of your living room, where everything is so known;
your house stands as the last thing before great space:
Whoever you are."

from Entrance, a poem
by Rainer Maria Rilke 


This week, an image called
Glacier Stream—
the Alps.
Also: four new
translations from the German.





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The guest poems for this week are four new English translations from the work of the German
language poet,
Rainer Maria Rilke (from the Rilke website, a concise hyperlinked biography).


Moments Out of Time



Eingang

Wer du auch seist: Am Abend tritt hinaus
aus deiner Stube, drin du alles weißt;
als letztes vor der Ferne liegt dein Haus:
Wer du auch seist.
Mit deinen Augen, welche müde kaum
von der verbrauchten Schwelle sich befrein,
hebst du ganz langsam einen schwarzen Baum
und stellst ihn vor den Himmel: schlank, allein.
Und hast die Welt gemacht. Und sie ist groß
und wie ein Wort, das noch im Schweigen reift.
Und wie dein Wille ihren Sinn begreift,
lassen sie deine Augen zärtlich los . . .
Entrance

Whoever you are: step out in to the evening
out of your living room, where everything is so known;
your house stands as the last thing before great space:
Whoever you are.
With your eyes, which in their fatigue can just barely
free themselves from the worn-out thresholds,
very slowly, lift a single black tree
and place it against the sky, slender and alone.
With this you have made the world. And it is large
and like a word that is still ripening in the silence.
And, just as your will grasps their meaning,
they in turn will let go, delicately, of your eyes . . .





Leichen-Wäsche

Sie hatten sich an ihn gewöhnt. Doch als
die Küchenlampe kam und unruhig brannte
im dunkeln Luftzug, war der Unbekannte
ganz unbekannt. Sie wuschen seinen Hals,

und da sie nichts von seinem Schicksal wussten,
so logen sie ein anderes zusamm,
fortwährend waschend. Eine musste husten
und ließ solang den schweren Essigschwamm

auf dem Gesicht. Da gab es eine Pause
auch für die zweite. Aus der harten Bürste
klopften die Tropfen; während seine grause
gekrampfte Hand dem ganzen Hause
beweisen wollte, dass ihn nicht mehr dürste.

Und er bewies. Sie nahmen wie betreten
eiliger jetzt mit einem kurzen Huster
die Arbeit auf, so dass an den Tapeten
ihr krummer Schatten in dem stummen Muster

sich wand und wälzte wie in einem Netze,
bis dass die Waschenden zu Ende kamen.
Die Nacht im vorhanglosen Fensterrahmen
war rücksichtslos. Und einer ohne Namen
lag bar und reinlich da und gab Gesetze.


(1908, Paris)
Corpse Washing

They had grown used to him. Yet when
the kitchen lamp arrived and burned restlessly
in the dark draft, the unknown one became
completely unknown. They washed his neck,

and in that they knew nothing of his story,
they fabricated snatches together,
all the while washing. One coughed
and left the heavy sponge full of vinegar

on the face. Then it was time for the second
to take a pause. Out of the hard brush,
drops fell to the ground; while his cramped
gray hand wished to prove to the entire
house that he no longer needed water.

And this he proved. They took up their work
again with more haste, as if caught off guard,
now with a cough, so that on the wallpaper
their bent-over shadows wound and rolled

themselves into a mute pattern as in a net,
until their washing had come to an end.
The night coming through the curtainless windows
was merciless. And one without a name lay
there, bare and cleansed, and gave commands.





Die Schwestern

Sieh, wie sie dieselben Möglichkeiten
anders an sich tragen und verstehn,
so als sähe man verschiedne Zeiten
durch zwei gleiche Zimmer gehn.

Jede meint die andere zu stützen,
während sie doch müde an ihr ruht;
und sie können nicht einander nützen,
denn sie legen Blut auf Blut,

wenn sie sich wie früher sanft berühren
und versuchen, die Allee entlang
sich geführt zu fühlen und zu führen:
Ach, sie haben nicht denselben Gang.

(1908, Paris)
The Sisters

See how differently they carry and understand
upon themselves the same possibilities,
as if one were to see different eras
pass through two identical rooms.

Each thinks she supports the other one,
all the while resting, tired, upon her;
and they can't make use of each other
for together they place blood upon blood,

when they as in the past gently touch
and try, going down the avenue,
both to lead and feel as if being led:
and yet, they don't have the same gait.





Vor dem Sommerregen

Auf einmal ist aus allem Grün im Park
man weiß nicht was, ein Etwas fortgenommen;
man fühlt ihn näher an die Fenster kommen
und schweigen sein. Inständig nur und stark

ertönt aus dem Gehölz der Regenpfeifer,
man denkt an einen Hieronymus:
so sehr steigt irgend Einsamkeit und Eifer
aus dieser einen Stimme, die der Guß

erhören wird. Des Saales Wände sind
mit ihren Bildern von uns fortgetreten
als dürften sie nicht hören was wir sagen.

Es spiegeln die verblichenen Tapeten
das ungewisse Licht von Nachmittagen,
in denen man sich fürchtete als Kind.

   Rainer Maria Rilke
  
(Paris, early July 1906)
Before Summer Rain

All at once from the green of the park,
one can't quite say, something is taken away;
one feels it coming closer to the windows
and being silent. Out of a grove,

persistent and strong, sounds a plover,
one thinks of a Saint Jerome:
so intensely rises a solitude and fervor
out of this one voice that the downpour

shall listen. The walls of the great hall
with their paintings retreat from us
as if not allowed to hear what we say.

Reflected in the faded tapestries
is the uncertain light of afternoons
in which one as a child was so afraid.
*


   (all tr. Cliff Crego)







| view / print Picture/Poem Poster: Before Summer Rain (86 K) | | or download as PDF |



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* Saint Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus: c.347-420) was a central figure in the Church of Rome
of his day. Known for asceticism and great scholarship, his lasting contribution was the
translation of the Bible into Latin. He also introduced philological and geographical material in
his work, and gave emphasis to archaelogical inquiry, all of which had a strong influence
on the emerging cultural tradition of the Middle Ages. (source of data: Grolier Encyclopedia (1996))
| see the magnificent
Michelangelo Caravaggio (1572-1610)
masterpiece, Saint Jerome Writing |


| see also the Rilke Posters |


| listen to other recordings in English and German of twelve poems from
The Book of Images
at The Rilke Download Page
(# Includes instructions) |
See other recent additions of new English translations of
Rilke's poetry, together with
featured photographs at:

(33) The View to Infinity and Back

(32) June: Every Poem a Prayer


See also a selection of recent Picture/Poem "Rilke in translation" features at the Rilke Archive.

See also another website
by Cliff Crego:
The Poetry of
Rainer Maria Rilke
a presentation of 80 of the
best poems of Rilke in
both German and
new English translations
:
biography, links, posters


See
also:

new
"Straight roads,
Slow rivers,
Deep clay."
A collection of contemporary Dutch poetry
in English translation, with commentary
and photographs
by Cliff Crego


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(created:
VII.1.2001)(revised: XII.24.2010)