Printed from WriteWords - http://www.writewords.org.uk/archive/15259.asp

After Rilke

by  apsara

Posted: Friday, August 11, 2006
Word Count: 69
Summary: An exercise in translation without looking anything up in a dictionary - being true to sound and/or meaning as you choose. From an untitled poem by Rilke.




The city’s pull, the rumble of cars
surround me but, inside the noise,
I remember the sky and the earthy mountains.
Stones in my mouth, but yet
the heart’s work seems possible.
Just to stand up is wonderful.
And always the spirit is there,
never fading, though the shadows of the clouds
pass through her. She is the light
flickering in the lamp’s mantle.
Death finds its way around.