April: Willow Spring

RILKE | April: Willow Spring

Spring Alpine Willow "Then it is quiet. Even the /
rain goes more softly
over the stones' peacefully /
darkening shine.
All sounds tuck themselves /
wholly away
under the glistening /
buds of the bushes."

from Out of an April,
a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke

This week, an image called
Dwarf Willow Alpine Spring
Also: a new translation
from the German.

Follow my RilkeQuotes
on twitter | rss |

	"Then it is quiet. Even the / rain goes more softly over the stones' peacefully / darkening shine. All sounds tuck themselves / wholly away under the glistening / buds of the bushes." from Out of an April, a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke This week, an image called Dwarf Willow Alpine Spring Also: a new translation from the German. Follow my RilkeQuotes on twitter \| rss \|

The guest poem for this week is a new English translation from the work of the German
language poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (from the Rilke website, a concise hyperlinked biography).
| listen to the English translation and the German original in RealAudio |

Out of an April

Once again the forest is full of fragrance.
It lifts the soaring larks
up into the heavens, which lay so heavy upon our shoulders.
It is true, one could see the days through the branches, how empty they were,—
but after long, rain-filled afternoons,
come the newer hours
overflowing with golden sunshine,
before which, the sore windows of the distant
facades of houses
flee in reverence with beating wings.

Then it is quiet. Even the rain goes more softly
over the stones' peacefully darkening shine.
All sounds tuck themselves wholly away
under the glistening buds of the bushes.

Aus Einem April

Wieder duftet der Wald.
Es heben die schwebenden Lerchen
mit sich den Himmel empor, der unseren Schultern schwer war;
zwar sah man noch die Äste den Tag, wie er leer war,—
aber nach langen, regnenden Nachmittagen
kommen die goldübersonnten
neueren Stunden,
vor denen flüchtend an fernen Häuserfronten
alle die wunden
fenster furchtsam mit Flügeln schlagen.

Dann wird es still. Sogar der Regen geht leiser
über der Steine ruhig dunkelnded Glanz.
Alle Geräusche ducken sich ganz
in die glänzenden Knospen der Reiser.

| view / print Picture/Poem Poster: Out of an April (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 other recent additions of new English translations of Rilke's poetry, together with
featured photographs at:

(28) April: A Light too Bright to Bear

(27) March: The Time in Stones

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