The Sonnets To Orpheus: IV
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
O you tender ones, walk now and then
into the breath that blows coldly past,
Upon your cheeks let it tremble and part;
behind you it will tremble together again.
O you blessed ones, you who are whole,
you who seem the beginning of hearts,
bows for the arrows and arrows' targets--
tear-bright, your lips more eternally smile.
Don't be afraid to suffer; return
that heaviness to the earth's own weight;
heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas.
Even the small trees you planted as children
have long since become too heavy; you could not
carry them now. But the winds...But the spaces....
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 198 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXXA XXXX XXX XXX X |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 611 |
Words | 110 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3, 1 |
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"The Sonnets To Orpheus: IV" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29735/the-sonnets-to-orpheus:-iv>.
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