To Say Before Going to Sleep

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



I would like to sing someone to sleep,
have someone to sit by and be with.
I would like to cradle you and softly sing,
be your companion while you sleep or wake.
I would like to be the only person
in the house who knew: the night outside was cold.
And would like to listen to you
and outside to the world and to the woods.

The clocks are striking, calling to each other,
and one can see right to the edge of time.
Outside the house a strange man is afoot
and a strange dog barks, wakened from his sleep.
Beyond that there is silence.

My eyes rest upon your face wide-open;
and they hold you gently, letting you go
when something in the dark begins to move.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

39 sec read
273

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXXBXXX XXXAX BXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 649
Words 132
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 5, 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…

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