Song Of The Orphan
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
I am no one and never will be anyone,
for I am far too small to claim to be;
not even later.
Mothers and Fathers,
take pity on me.
I fear it will not pay to raise me:
I shall fall victim to the mower's scythe.
No one can find me useful now: I am too young,
and tomorrow will be too late.
I only have one dress,
worn thin and faded,
but it will last an eternity
even before God, perhaps.
I only have this whispy hair
(that always remained the same)
yet once was someone's dearest love.
Now he has nothing that he loves.
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 219 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAX XA AXXX XXAX XXX X X |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 546 |
Words | 113 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 1, 1 |
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"Song Of The Orphan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29712/song-of-the-orphan>.
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