Five Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke

Song Cycle by Mark Abel (b. 1948)

1. In this town the last house stands
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
In this town the last house stands
as lonely as if it were the last house in the world.

The highway, which the tiny town is not able to stop,
slowly goes deeper out into the night.

The tiny town is only a passing-over place,
worried and afraid, between two huge spaces --
a path running past houses instead of a bridge.

And those who leave the town wander a long way off
and many perhaps die on the road.

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2. My life is not this steeply sloping hour
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
My life is not this steeply sloping hour
in which you see me hurrying.
Much stands behind me;
I stand before it like a tree;
I am only one of my many mouths,
and at that, the one that will be
still the soonest.

I am the rest between two notes,
which are somehow always in discord
because Death’s note wants to climb over --
but in the dark interval, reconciled,
they stay there trembling.

And the song goes on, beautiful.

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3. All of you undisturbed cities
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
All of you undisturbed cities,
haven’t you ever longed for the Enemy?
I’d like to see you besieged by him
for ten endless and ground-shaking years.

Until you were desperate and mad with suffering;
finally in hunger you would feel his weight.
He lies outside the walls like a countryside.
And he knows very well how to endure
longer than the ones he comes to visit.

Climb up on your roofs and look out:
his camp is there and his morale doesn’t falter,
and his numbers do not decrease;
he will not grow weaker,
and he sends no one into the city
to threaten or promise,
and no one to negotiate.

He is the one who breaks down the walls,
and when he works, he works in silence.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

4. You darkness, that I come from
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
You darkness, that I come from,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes
a circIe of light for everyone,
and then no one outside learns of you.
         
But the darkness pulls in everything:
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them! --
powers and people --

and it is possible a great energy
is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

5. I live my life in growing orbits
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I live my life in growing orbits,
which move out over the things of the world.
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
but that will be my attempt. 

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years.
And I still don't know if I am a falcon,
Or a storm, or a great song.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

Total word count: 425