6 Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke

Translations © by Grant Hicks

Song Cycle by Philippe Mazé (b. 1954)

View original-language texts alone: 6 Poèmes de Rainer Maria Rilke

1. Ce soir mon cœur fait chanter des anges  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Ce soir mon cœur fait chanter
des anges qui se souviennent...
Une voix, presque mienne,
par trop de silence tentée,

monte et se décide
à ne plus revenir ;
tendre et intrépide,
à quoi va-t-elle s'unir ?

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
1. Tonight My Heart Makes Angels Sing
Language: English 
Tonight my heart makes
angels sing, who remember....
A voice, almost my own,
tempted by too much silence,

rises and decides
never to return;
tender and undaunted,
with what will it unite?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Ce soir" = "Tonight"
"Ce soir mon cœur" = "Tonight My Heart"
"Ce soir mon cœur fait chanter" = "Tonight My Heart Makes Sing"
"Ce soir mon cœur fait chanter des anges" = "Tonight My Heart Makes Angels Sing"
"Mon coeur fait chanter des anges" = "My Heart Makes Angels Sing"
"souviennent" = "Remember"



This text was added to the website: 2025-08-29
Line count: 8
Word count: 32

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Lampe du soir  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Lampe du soir, ma calme confidente, 
mon coeur n'est point par toi dévoilé ; 
(on s'y perdrait peut-être) ; mais sa pente 
du côté sud est doucement éclairée. 

C'est encore toi, ô lampe d'étudiant, 
qui veux que le liseur de temps en temps 
s'arrête, étonné, et se dérange 
sur son bouquin, te regardant. 

(Et ta simplicité supprime un Ange.)

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Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 140.


by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
2. Lamp of the Night
Language: English 
Lamp of the night, my calm confidante,
my heart is not unveiled by you—
(one might lose oneself)—but its
southern slope is softly illuminated.

It is still you, O student lamp,
who want the reader, from time to time,
to pull up, astonished, and break off
from his reading to gaze at you.

(And your simplicity displaces an Angel.)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Lampe du soir" = "Lamp of the Night"



This text was added to the website: 2025-09-05
Line count: 9
Word count: 59

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Petit Ange en porcelaine  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Petit Ange en porcelaine, 
s'il arrive que l'on te toise, 
nous t'avions quand l'année fut pleine
coiffé d'une framboise. 

Ça nous semblait tellement futil 
de te mettre ce bonnet rouge, 
mais depuis lors tout bouge 
sauf ton tendre tortil. 

Il est desséché, mais il tient, 
on dirait parfois qu'il embaume ;
couronné d'un fantôme, 
ton petit front se souvient.

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Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 152.


by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
3. Little Porcelain Angel
Language: English 
Little porcelain Angel,
if one were to size you up,
in the fullness of the year
we crowned you with a raspberry.

It seemed to us so futile
to put this red bonnet on you,
but since then all is inconstant 
except your tender coronet.

It is withered, but it remains,
one would say at times that it embalms;
crowned with a phantom,
your tiny brow remembers.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Petit Ange en porcelaine" = "Little Porcelain Angel"



This text was added to the website: 2025-08-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 67

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. ... égaler une rose ?  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
On arrange et on compose 
les mots de tant de façons, 
mais comment arriverait-on 
à égaler une rose ?

Si on supporte l'étrange 
prétention de ce jeu, 
c'est que, parfois, un ange 
le dérange un peu.

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Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 202.


by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
4. ... To equal a rose?
Language: English 
One arranges and composes
words in so many ways,
but how would one ever contrive 
to equal a rose?

If one keeps up the strange 
pretention of this game,
it's because sometimes an angel
deranges him a bit.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"La rose" = "The Rose"
"On arrange et on compose" = "One Arranges and Composes"
"... égaler une rose ?" = "... To equal a rose?"



This text was added to the website: 2025-08-31
Line count: 8
Word count: 38

Translation © by Grant Hicks
5. Paume  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Paume, doux lit froissé
où des étoiles dormantes
avaient laissé des plis
en se levant vers le ciel.

Est-ce que ce lit était tel
qu'elles se trouvent reposées,
claires et incandescentes,
parmi les astres amis
en leur élan éternel ?

Ô les deux lits de mes mains,
abandonnés et froids,
légers d'un absent poids
de ces astres d'airain.

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Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 144.


by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
5. Palm
Language: English 
Palm, soft rumpled bed
where sleeping stars
left wrinkles behind them
as they rose toward the sky.

Was this bed such
that they found themselves rested,
bright and incandescent,
among the friendly orbs
in their eternal flight?

O two beds of my hands,
abandoned and cold,
light with the absent weight 
of those stars of bronze.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Subtitle: "To Mme. and M. Albert Vulliez"

Translations of titles:
"Les plis du ciel" = "The Wrinkles of the Sky"
"Paume" = "Palm"



This text was added to the website: 2025-09-04
Line count: 13
Word count: 56

Translation © by Grant Hicks
6. Puisque tout passe  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Puisque tout passe, faisons
la mélodie passagère ;
celle qui nous désaltère,
aura de nous raison.

Chantons ce qui nous quitte
avec amour et art ;
soyons plus vite
que le rapide départ.

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
6. Since Everything Passes
Language: English 
Since everything passes, 
let us make fleeting melody; 
the one that refreshes us 
will get the better of us. 

Let us sing that which is leaving us 
with love and art; 
let us be quicker 
than its swift departure.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2001 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Translations of titles:
"Puisque tout passe" = "Since Everything Passes"
"Puisque tout passe, faisons" = "Since everything passes, let us make"
"Vergers XXXVI" = "Orchards XXXVI"



This text was added to the website: 2025-05-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 39

Translation © by Grant Hicks