The Blindman's Song

Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)



I am blind, you outsiders. It is a curse,
a contradiction, a tiresome farce,
and every day I despair.
I put my hand on the arm of my wife
(colorless hand on colorless sleeve)
and she walks me through empty air.

You push and shove and think that you've been
sounding different from stone against stone,
but you are mistaken: I alone
live and suffer and howl.
In me there is an endless outcry
and I can't tell what's crying, whether its my
broken heart or my bowels.

Are the tunes familiar? You don't sing them like this:
how could you understand?
Each morning the sunlight comes into your house,
and you welcome it as a friend.
And you know what it's like to see face-to-face;
and that tempts you to be kind.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
152

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAXXA XBBXCCX XXXXXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 697
Words 135
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 7, 6

Rainer Maria Rilke

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke — better known as Rainer Maria Rilke — was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. more…

All Rainer Maria Rilke poems | Rainer Maria Rilke Books

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    Poet George McDonald wrote a two-word poem that reads _____ _____?
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