Before Summer Rain

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



Suddenly, from all the green around you,
something-you don't know what-has disappeared;
you feel it creeping closer to the window,
in total silence. From the nearby wood

you hear the urgent whistling of a plover,
reminding you of someone's Saint Jerome:
so much solitude and passion come
from that one voice, whose fierce request the downpour

will grant. The walls, with their ancient portraits, glide
away from us, cautiously, as though
they weren't supposed to hear what we are saying.

And reflected on the faded tapestries now;
the chill, uncertain sunlight of those long
childhood hours when you were so afraid.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

31 sec read
217

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAX XXXX XAX XXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 610
Words 103
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3

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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