RILKE | February: Winter Fountains
Water Fountain, Luzern

"...That has learned to walk /
   on water
when it scoops,
that walks upon springs,
transformer of all ways.."


from Palm of the Hand,
by Rainer Maria Rilke 


This week, an image of Winter
Fountains,
 
Also: three new
translations from the German.






Follow my RilkeQuotes
on twitter | rss |


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





O schöner Glanz des scheuen Spiegelbilds!
Wie darf es glänzen, weil es nirgends dauert.
Der Frauen Dürsten nach sich selber stillts.
Wie ist die Welt mit Spiegeln zugemauert

für sie! Wir fallen in der Spiegel Glanz
wie in geheimen Abfluß unseres Wesens;
sie aber finden ihres dort: sie lesens.
Sie müssen doppelt sein, dann sind sie ganz.

Oh, tritt, Geliebte, vor das klare Glas,
auf daß du seist. Daß zwischen dir und dir
die Spannung sich erneue und das Maß
für das, was unaussprechlich ist in ihr.

Gesteigert um dein Bild: wie bist du reich.
Dein Ja zu dir bejaht dir Haar und Wange,
und überfüllt von solchem Selbstempfange,
taumelt dein Blick und dunkelt im Vergleich.


(1924)
O beautiful sheen of the shy mirror image!
How it may shine, for nowhere does it last.
Women thirst for that which only they can satisfy.
How the world has been enclosed with mirrors

for them! We fall into the mirror's luster
like a secret draining away of our being;
Women however find theirs: they read it there.
They must be two, only then they are whole.

Oh, step then, beloved, in front of the clear glass,
upon which you are. That the tension may be
renewed between you and yourself, and the measure
for that which in her is yet unsayable.

Rising above your image: how rich you are.
Your yes to yourself affirms both cheek and hair,
and overflowing with such self-reception,
your gaze reels and darkens in its likeness.

(all tr. Cliff Crego)





Unstete Waage des Lebens
immer schwankend, wie selten
wagt ein geschicktes Gewicht
anzusagen, die immerfort andre
Last gegenüber.

Drüben, die ruhige
Waage des Todes.
Raum auf den beiden
verschwisterten Schalen.
Gleichviel Raum. Und daneben,
ungebraucht,
alle Gewichte des Gleichmuts,
glänzen, geordnet.


(1924)

Inconstant scales of Life,
always vacillating, how rarely
does a facile weight dare
announce itself to the soon vanishing
opposite load.

On the other side, the peaceful
scales of Death.
Space enough on both
of the kindred bowls.
Equal space. And beside it,
unused,
all the weights of Equanimity,
shining, in ordered rows.





Handinneres

I
nnres der Hand. Sohle, die nicht mehr geht
als auf Gefühl. Die sich nach oben hält
und im Spiegel
himmlische Straßen empfängt, die selber
wandelnden.
Die gelernt hat, auf Wasser zu gehn,
wenn sie schöpft,
die auf den Brunnen geht,
aller Wege Verwandlerin.
Die auftritt in anderen Händen,
die ihresgleichen
zur Landschaft macht:
wandert und ankommt in ihnen,
sie anfüllt mit Ankunft.


(1924)
Palm of the Hand

P
alm of the hand. Sole, that no longer walks
but on feeling. That holds itself upward
and in its mirror
receives heavenly roads, that themselves
have journeyed far.
That has learned to walk on water
when it scoops,
that walks upon springs,
transformer of all ways.
That steps into other hands,
turning into landscape
those that are its likeness:
wanders and arrives in them,
and fills them with arrival.

(all tr. Cliff Crego)









order RILKE IN THE WALLOWAS
for $49.95 + shipping or
download as e-Book for $14.95


New English translations
from the German of 80
of Rainer Maria Rilke's
best poems, together
with 120 color prints
from the High Wallowas.
With introduction . . .

|
| preview opens in new window |

| about RILKE IN THE WALLOWAS |


please follow my RilkeQuotes twitter
stream if you'd like timely updates

















| view / print Picture/Poem Poster: The Scales (86 K) |


| 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 other recent additions of new English translations of
Rilke's poetry, together with
featured photographs at:

(21) January: Winter Ribbons

(20) December: Clear Water, Smooth Granite and the Flow of Compassion



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


| back to Picture/Poems: Central Display |

Photograph/Texts of Translations © 2000 Cliff Crego
(created:
I.14.2001) (revised: I.31.2011)
Comments to crego@picture-poems.com