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More poems by Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria Rilke | Print this page.Print | Order a PoetryNotes Analysis of this poem.Analysis | View and Write CommentsComments

Lament (O how all things are far removed)

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.


Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming

Added: 2 Mar 2002 | Last Read: 2 Dec 2008 5:58 PM | Viewed: 2928 times

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URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/3253/ | Viewed on 2 December 2008.
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