Lament (O how all things are far removed)

Read 'Lament (O how all things are far removed)' by 'Rainer Maria Rilke' and provide your summary and literary analysis in the comments section below.

Lament (O how all things are far removed) by Rainer Maria Rilke

 O how all things are far removed
and long have passed away.
I do believe the star,
whose light my face reflects,
is dead and has been so
for many thousand years.

I had a vision of a passing boat
and heard some voices saying disquieting things.
I heard a clock strike in some distant house...
but in which house?...

I long to quiet my anxious heart
and stand beneath the sky's immensity.
I long to pray...
And one of all the stars
must still exist.
I do believe that I would know
which one alone
endured,
and which like a white city stands
at the ray's end shining in the heavens.

Form: Free verse

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