How to recognize again

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Comment encore reconnaître

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Comment encore reconnaître
ce que fut la douce vie ?
En contemplant peut-être
dans ma paume l'imagerie

de ces lignes et de ces rides
que l'on entretient
en fermant sur le vide
cette main de rien.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1924/1925, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 32 [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):

by Gordon Ware Binkerd (1916 - 2003), "Comment encore reconnaître", 1972, published 1973 [ mezzo-soprano, violin and violoncello ], from Portrait intérieur, no. 3, New York : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
by Natalie Goossens (b. 1976), "Comment encore reconnaître", 2020 [ mixed chorus ], from Cinq chansons d’espoir, no. 4, Euprint [sung text checked 1 time]

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

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

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-10-12
Line count: 8
Word count: 35

How to recognize again

Language: English after the French (Français)

How to recognize again 
what was the good life?
Possibly by contemplating 
the imagery in my palm

of these lines and these ridges
that one maintains
by closing on the void
this hand of nothing.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Comment encore reconnaître" = "How to recognize again"

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1924/1925, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 32
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-08-11
Line count: 8
Word count: 35