Sunset
Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors Which it passes to a row of ancient trees. You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you One part climbs toward heaven, one
Sacrifice
How my body blooms from every vein More fragrantly, since you appeard to me; Look, I walk slimmer now and straighter, And all you do is wait-:who are you then? Look: I feel how
Rememberance
And you wait, keep waiting for that one thing Which would infinitely enrich your life: The powerful, uniquely uncommon, The awakening of dormant stones, Depths that would reveal you to yourself. In the dusk
The Panther
His vision, from the constantly passing bars, Has grown so weary that it cannot hold Anything else. It seems to him there are A thousand bars and behind the bars, no world. As he
Night (O you whose countenance)
Night. O you whose countenance, dissolved In deepness, hovers above my face. You who are the heaviest counterweight To my astounding contemplation. Night, that trembles as reflected in my eyes, But in itself strong;
The Sonnets To Orpheus: Book 2: XIII
Be ahead of all parting, as though it already were Behind you, like the winter that has just gone by. For among these winters there is one so endlessly winter That only by wintering
Solemn Hour
Whoever now weeps somewhere in the world, Weeps without reason in the world, Weeps over me. Whoever now laughs somewhere in the night, Laughs without reason in the night, Laughs at me. Whoever now
Song Of The Sea
(Capri, Piccola Marina) Timeless sea breezes, Sea-wind of the night: You come for no one; If someone should wake, He must be prepared How to survive you. Timeless sea breezes, That for aeons have
Narcissus
Encircled by her arms as by a shell, She hears her being murmur, While forever he endures The outrage of his too pure image… Wistfully following their example, Nature re-enters herself; Contemplating its own
Loneliness
Being apart and lonely is like rain. It climbs toward evening from the ocean plains; From flat places, rolling and remote, it climbs To heaven, which is its old abode. And only when leaving
Extinguish Thou My Eyes
Extinguish Thou my eyes:I still can see Thee, Deprive my ears of sound:I still can hear Thee, And without feet I still can come to Thee, And without voice I still can call to
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
Along The Sun-Drenched Roadside
Along the sun-drenched roadside, from the great Hollow half-treetrunk, which for generations Has been a trough, renewing in itself An inch or two of rain, I satisfy My thirst: taking the water’s pristine coolness
The Unicorn
The saintly hermit, midway through his prayers Stopped suddenly, and raised his eyes to witness The unbelievable: for there before him stood The legendary creature, startling white, that Had approached, soundlessly, pleading with his
Piano Practice
The summer hums. The afternoon fatigues; She breathed her crisp white dress distractedly And put into it that sharply etched etude Her impatience for a reality That could come: tomorrow, this evening, That perhaps