Rilke Poems - Poems about Rilke

Ranier Maria Rilke a poet&writer was he Many a letter he also wrote useful if you require a quote...

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‘Here among the vanishing ones, in the realm of decline’ body parts of ghosts remain to haunt each other. Morning is taken with just a slice of lemon the tears of the lost milk the cup. The older the bones get the more ghosts are crowded into an abandoned house. We who are left make supper early, go to the bird table...

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The Broken Fountain Pen Disaster Underfoot the dropped was-so-lost pen breaks snapping its midnight ink artery to spurt explosively out like some imprisoned force nearly dead but up again sucking in saving air and spread on dispersing into freedom in a fly across the floor the long streaks of such random black arcs streaking falling ...

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This is my translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's second elegy from his Duino Elegies, which he began composing at Duino Castle in 1912. Second Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Every angel is terrifying. And yet, alas, I invoke you, one of the soul’s lethal raptors, well aware of your nature. As in the...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. First Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Who, if I objected, would hear me among the...

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Sonnets X-XVI Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”) by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch We cannot know the beheaded god nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality of a lamp lit from within, while his composed will emanates dynamism. Otherwise the firmly muscled abdomen could not beguile us, nor the centering loins...

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The Master of Nuances Supreme literary intensity Rainer Maria Rilke— Inspired as Orpheus sings Predilection for Die Dinge A mastery of true nuances A thirst for poetic symbols He sings now with Orpheus And the angels in Heaven. Gary Bateman, Copyright © All Rights Reserved December 5, 2016 (Verse)...

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Liebes-Lied (“Love Song”) by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch How can I withhold my soul so that it doesn’t touch yours? How can I lift mine gently to higher things, alone? Oh, I would gladly find something lost in the dark in that inert space that fails to resonate until you vibrate. There everything that moves us,...

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The Panther by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars, his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion. His world is not our world. It has no stars. No light. Ten thousand bars. Nothing beyond. Lithe, swinging with a rhythmic easy stride, he circles, his small orbit tightening, an electron losing power. Paralyzed, soon regal Will...

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Come, You by Rainer Maria Rilke translation by Michael R. Burch Come, you—the last one I acknowledge; return— incurable pain searing this physical mesh. As I burned in the spirit once, so now I burn with you; meanwhile, you consume my flesh. This wood that long resisted your embrace now nourishes you; I surrender to your fury as my gentleness mutates to hellish rage— uncaged,...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch We cannot know the beheaded god nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality of a lamp lit from within, while his composed will emanates dynamism. Otherwise the firmly muscled abdomen could not beguile us, nor the centering loins make us smile at the...

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Come, You by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation by Michael R. Burch This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the Valmont Sanatorium, of leukemia and its complications. I had a friend who died of leukemia and he was burning up...

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Archaischer Torso Apollos ("Archaic Torso of Apollo") by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch We cannot know the beheaded god nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality of a lamp lit from within, while his composed will emanates dynamism. Otherwise the firmly muscled abdomen could not beguile us, nor the centering loins...

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Autumn Day by Rainer Maria Rilke loose translation by Michael R. Burch Lord, it is time. Let the immense summer go. Lay your long shadows over the sundials and over the meadows, let the free winds blow. Command the late fruits to fatten and shine; O, grant them another Mediterranean hour! Urge them to completion, and with power convey final sweetness to the heavy...

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Doth if not thrill thee, Poet, Dead and dust though thy art, To feel how I press thy singing Close to my heart? By Richard Le Gallienne (The Passionate Reader To His Poet) Rilke, Gathering thunderstorms. Unlike you or me. So deep and hard into that muck Where the tears dry, He keeps his hand strong. And you and me, On that perilous corner, Choking on powdered asphalt...

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