Deux Poèmes de R.M. Rilke

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.

Text Authorship:

• by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written c1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 36, first published 1926

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Puix que tot passa", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Thomas A. Gregg) , "Since all is passing", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Elena María Accinelli) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

[Après une journée de vent, 
dans]1 une paix infinie, 
le soir se réconcilie 
comme un docile amant.

Tout devient calme, clarté....
Mais à l'horizon s'étage, 
éclairé et doré, 
un beau bas-relief de nuages.

Text Authorship:

• by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Poèmes français, in 2. Les Quatrains Valaisans, no. 21

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 120.

¹ Schürch: "Dans"; further changes may exist not shown above

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]