"Du Dunkelheit" -- Rainer Maria Rilke

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Du Dunkelheit, aus der ich stamme
ich liebe dich mehr als die Flamme,
welche die Welt begrenzt,
indem sie glänzt
mich nicht so sehr verhinderte am Wachen -:
für irgend einen Kreis,
aus dem heraus kein Wesen von ihr weiß.

Aber die Dunkelheit hält alles an sich:
Gestalten und Flammen, Tiere und mich, wie sie's errafft,
Menschen und Mächte -

Und es kann sein: eine große Kraft
rührt sich in meiner Nachbarschaft.

Ich glaube an Nächte.


You, darkness, of whom I am born—

I love you more than the flame
that limits the world
to the circle it illumines
and excludes all the rest.

But the dark embraces everything:
shapes and shadows, creatures and me,
people, nations—just as they are.

It lets me imagine
a great presence stirring beside me.

I believe in the night.

Comments

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

I almost always prefer reading in German anyway; I've been learning for a few years, but my translation skills aren't nearly up to poetry. Beautiful indeed, though, you're welcome.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

True. I find it interesting to see what different translators make of text, though; I've read several different editions of Faust and the differences in Gretchens Stube alone are huge.

< / geek >

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Oh God, Die Unendliche Geschichte! (nice icon there, btw) I tried ordering that off amazon.co.uk, but they couldn't find a copy -- I'm going to Germany in a couple of months and really want to pick it up, I've wanted to read it in German for years. I've been working through Ende's Momo in German at a rate of about a page a week for...um...some months, which is wonderful if difficult as I've never read it in English and some parts sail over my head. I adore the Neverending Story, though; read parts of the German online and it sounds so much better than my edition (Ralph Manheim, I think).