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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.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 144.
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Paume", subtitle: "À Mme. et M. Albert Vulliez", written 1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 7 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "Paume", op. 21 no. 2 (1983) [ medium voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Philippe Mazé (b. 1954), "Paume", 1999 [ women's chorus ], from 6 Poèmes de Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 5, Artchipel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claire Renard (b. 1944), "Les plis du ciel", 2002, published 2003 [ female voice, shakuhachi, lute, viola da gamba, harp, accordion ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , subtitle: "To Mme. and M. Albert Vulliez", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-04-01
Line count: 13
Word count: 57
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.
Subtitle: "To Mme. and M. Albert Vulliez"
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Les plis du ciel" = "The Wrinkles of the Sky"
"Paume" = "Palm"
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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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Paume", subtitle: "À Mme. et M. Albert Vulliez", written 1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 7
This text was added to the website: 2025-09-04
Line count: 13
Word count: 56