The Island

The next tide will erase the way through the mudflats,
and everything will be again equal on all sides;
but the small, far-out island already has its
eyes closed; bewildered, the dike draws a circle

around its inhabitants who were born
into a sleep in which many worlds
are silently confused, for they rarely speak,
and every phrase is like an epitaph

for something washed up on shore, unknown,
that inexplicably comes to them and remains.
And so it is, from childhood on, with everything

described in their gaze: things not applying to them,
too big, too merciless, sent back too many times,
which exaggerates even more their aloneness.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Herbsttag (Dia de outono)

Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß.
Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
und auf den Fluren laß die Winde los.

Befiehl den letzten Früchten voll zu sein;
gieb ihnen noch zwei südlichere Tage,
dränge sie zur Vollendung hin und jage
die letzte Süße in den schweren Wein.

Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.
Wer jetzt allein ist, wird es lange bleiben,
wird wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben
und wird in den Alleen hin und her
unruhig wandern, wenn die Blätter treiben.

Rainer Maria Rilke
(Paris,Sept.-21-1.902)

Autumn Day


Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your shadow on the sundials
and let loose the wind in the fields.

Bid the last fruits to be full;
give them another two more southerly days,
press them to ripeness, and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.

Whoever has no house now will not build one
anymore.
Whoever is alone now will remain so for a long
time,
will stay up, read, write long letters,
and wander the avenues, up and down,
restlessly, while the leaves are blowing.


Translated by Galway Kinnell and Hannah Liebmann,
"The Essential Rilke" (Ecco)


Autumn Day

Lord, it is time now,
for the summer has gone on
and gone on.
Lay your shadow along the sun-
dials and in the field
let the great wind blow free.
Command the last fruit
be ripe:
let it bow down the vine --
with perhaps two sun-warm days
more to force the last
sweetness in the heavy wine.

He who has no home
will not build one now.
He who is alone
will stay long
alone, will wake up,
read, write long letters,

and walk in the streets,
walk by in the
streets when the leaves blow.

Translated by John Logan,
"Homage to Rainer Maria Rilke,"


Dia de outono

Senhor, foi um verão imenso: é hora.
Estende as tuas sombras nos relógios
de sol e solta os ventos prado afora.

Instiga a sazonarem, com dois dias
a mais de sul, as frutas que, tardias,
conduzes rumo à plenitude, e apura,
no vinho denso, a última doçura.

Quem não tem lar já não terá; quem mora
sozinho há de velar e ler sozinho,
escrever longas cartas e, a caminho
de nada, há de trilhar ruas agora,
enquanto as folhas caem em torvelinho

Rainer Maria Rilke
Tradução:Nelson Ascher

Do you remember still the falling stars

Do you remember still the falling stars
that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes--do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars: each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Outono

As folhas caem, de muito longe
envelhecidas no céu, em longínquos jardins,
caem: é como um gesto de recusa.

E nas noites a terra pesada cai
fora das estrelas, em plena solidão.

Caímos todos. Cai a mão.
E vemos as outras. Dá-se o mesmo em todas elas.

Entretanto há alguém que sustêm essas quedas,
com infinita doçura, entre suas mãos.


Rainer Maria Rilke,
in Antologia Poética
Tradução de Antônio Roberto de Paula Leite

Cair da noite

Cai a noite a mudar devagar os vestidos
que uma franja de árvores velhas lhe segura;
olhas: e separam-se de ti as terras:
uma que vai para o céu, outra que cai;

e deixam-te, sem pertenceres de todo a qualquer delas,
não tão escuro como a casa silenciosa,
não tão seguro a evocar o eterno
como a que cada noite se faz estrela e sobe;

e deixam-te (indizível de desenredar!)
a tua vida, angustiada, gigantesca, a amadurar, tal
que, ora limitada ora compreensiva,
alterna em ti - ou pedra ou astro.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Dedication

I have great faith in all things not yet spoken.
I want my deepest pious feelings freed.
What no one yet has dared to risk and warrant
will be for me a challenge I must meet.

If this presumptious seems, God, may I be forgiven.
For what I want to say to you is this:
my efforts shall be like a driving force,
quite without anger, without timidness
as little children show their love for you.

With these outflowing, river-like, with deltas
that spread like arms to reach the open sea,
with the recurrent tides that never cease
will I acknowledge you, will I proclaim you
as no one ever has before.

And if this should be arrogance, so let me
arrogant be to justify my prayer
that stands so serious and so alone
before your forehead, circled by the clouds.



Rainer Maria Rilke
(Germany)
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming