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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Ihr vielen unbestürmten Städte
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ihr vielen unbestürmten Städte, 
habt ihr euch nie den Feind ersehnt? 
O dass er euch belagert hätte 
ein langes schwankendes Jahrzehnt. 

Bis ihr ihn trostlos und in Trauern, 
bis dass ihr hungernd ihn ertrugt; 
er liegt wie Landschaft vor den Mauern, 
denn also weiß er auszudauern 
um jene, die er heimgesucht. 

Schaut aus vom Rande eurer Dächer 
da lagert er und wird nicht matt 
und wird nicht weniger und schwächer 

und schickt nicht Droher und Versprecher 
und Überreder in die Stadt. 

Er ist der große Mauerbrecher, 
der eine stumme Arbeit hat. 

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 49 [author's text checked 1 time 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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Robert Bly (b. 1926) , "All of you undisturbed cities", appears in Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, first published 1981, copyright © by Harper and Row, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Mark Abel.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-02-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 91

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