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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Du Dunkelheit
 (Sung text for setting by G. Manzoni)
 Matches original text
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Du Dunkelheit, aus der ich stamme,
ich liebe dich mehr als die Flamme,
welche die Welt begrenzt,
indem sie glänzt
für irgend einen Kreis,
aus dem heraus kein Wesen von ihr weiß.

Aber die Dunkelheit hält alles an sich:
Gestalten und Flammen, Tiere und mich,
wie sie's errafft,
Menschen und Mächte. --

Und es kann sein: eine große Kraft
rührt sich in meiner Nachbarschaft.

Ich glaube an Nächte.

Composition:

    Set to music by Giacomo Manzoni (b. 1932), "Du Dunkelheit", 1998

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 11, first published 1905

See other settings of this text.

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

  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Toi, obscurité", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 67

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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