"...then loneliness flows with the rivers..."
from The Book of Images,
by Rainer Maria Rilke.
This week, an image of the sparkling
water of a mountain spring together with
a new translation of a much-loved
German poem.
April: Tapoff, Mountain Spring
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"...then loneliness flows with the rivers..." from The Book of Images, by Rainer Maria Rilke. This week, an image of the sparkling water of a mountain spring together with a new translation of a much-loved German poem. |
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Einsamkeit
Einsamkeit ist wie ein Regen. Sie steigt vom Meer den Abenden entgegen; von Ebenen, die fern sind und entlegen, geht sie zum Himmel, der sie immer hat. Und erst vom Himmel fällt sie auf die Stadt. Regnet hernieder in den Zwitterstunden, wenn sich nach Morgen wenden alle Gassen und wenn die Leiber, welche nichts gefunden, enttäuscht und traurig von einander lassen; und wenn die Menschen, die einander hassen, in einem Bett zusammen schlafen müssen: dann geht die Einsamkeit mit den Flüssen... Rainer Maria Rilke |
Loneliness Loneliness is like a rain. It rises from the sea to meet the evening; from the plains, which are far and remote, it ascends to the sky, which it ever holds. And from the sky it falls upon the city. It rains down into the twilight hours when the sidestreets are turning to the morning and when bodies, that have found nothing, disappointed and sad, let go of one another; and when those, who hate each other, must sleep together in the same bed: then loneliness flows with the rivers... (tr. Cliff Crego) |
| view / print
Picture/Poem
Poster: Loneliness (86 K) | or
download
as PDF |
| 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 also a selection of recent Picture/Poem "Rilke in translation"
features at the Rilke Archive.
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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 |
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See also: new |
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"Straight
roads, Slow rivers, Deep clay." |
A collection of contemporary Dutch poetry in English translation, with commentary and photographs by Cliff Crego |