The Neighbor
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
Strange violin, why do you follow me?
In how many foreign cities did you
speak of your lonely nights and those of mine.
Are you being played by hundreds? Or by one?
Do in all great cities men exist
who tormented and in deep despair
would have sought the river but for you?
And why does your playing always reach me?
Why is it that I am always neighbor
to those lost ones who are forced to sing
and to say: Life is infinitely heavier
than the heaviness of all things.
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 29 sec read
- 279 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXX XXBA CDCX D |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 499 |
Words | 98 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 1 |
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