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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation by Stephen Cohn

Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Nun fortzugehn von alledem Verworrnen,
das unser ist und uns doch nicht gehört,
das, wie das Wasser in den alten Bornen,
uns zitternd spiegelt und das Bild zerstört;
von allem diesen, das sich wie mit Dornen
noch einmal an uns anhängt – fortzugehn
und Das und Den,
die man schon nicht mehr sah
(so täglich waren sie und so gewöhnlich),
auf einmal anzuschauen: sanft, versöhnlich
und wie an einem Anfang und von nah;
und ahnend einzusehn, wie unpersönlich,
wie über alle hin das Leid geschah,
von dem die Kindheit voll war bis zum Rand –:
Und dann doch fortzugehen, Hand aus Hand,
als ob man ein Geheiltes neu zerrisse,
und fortzugehn: wohin? Ins Ungewisse,
weit in ein unverwandtes warmes Land,
das hinter allem Handeln wie Kulisse
gleichgültig sein wird: Garten oder Wand;
und fortzugehn: warum? Aus Drang, aus Artung,
aus Ungeduld, aus dunkler Erwartung,
aus Unverständlichkeit und Unverstand:

Dies alles auf sich nehmen und vergebens
vielleicht Gehaltnes fallen lassen, um
allein zu sterben, wissend nicht warum –
Ist das der Eingang eines neuen Lebens?

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes" [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 Andreas Birnbaum , "Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes", from Dingwelten-Weltdinge, no. 1, Blackbird Musikverlag Produktion Andreas Homm [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Robert Gläser (1912 - 1945), "Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes", 1939 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Karl Julius Marx (1897 - 1985), "Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes", op. 50 no. 1a (1949) [ voice and piano ], from Der Panther und andere Rilke-Gedichte, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Steen Pade (b. 1956), "Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes", 1973-74/1994 [ voice and piano ], from Jugend, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Stephen Cohn , "The Departure of the Prodigal Son ", appears in New Poems ; composed by Anne Charlotte Clarke.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-31
Line count: 27
Word count: 174

The Departure of the Prodigal Son
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
At last to leave behind all that confusion: 
the things of ours that never quite belonged 
although, like water in a well, they served
to reflect ourselves (it trembled: we were gone); 
to shed what still attempts to cling 
as if attached by thorns - and suddenly 
to see in close-up, every detail clear, 
people and things impossible to see 
(familiar and banal and always there) 
and find them tender and conciliatory; 
at last to comprehend old injuries 
and realise how disproportionate 
our childhood's overwhelming sense of hurt 
had been; in spite of all to leave, to tear 
our hands away as if to tear a scar 
already healed, and to depart: but where? 
Into uncertainty, looking to find 
some distant, unfamiliar, temperate land 
to be the setting that our actions need 
(the courtyard, or the garden, as required); 
to take our leave: but why? Because we're driven; 
because of what we are, our dispositions; 
because of urgent premonitions; 
because of darkness and our lack of vision: 

To make this whole attempt; perhaps in vain 
of what we hold; perhaps to die 
uncomprehendingly, perhaps alone 
How else can we discover a new life?

Confirmed with Stephen Cohn, Rainer Maria Rilke. Neue Gedichte / New Poems, Northwestern University Press, 1998, p.41


Text Authorship:

  • by Stephen Cohn , "The Departure of the Prodigal Son ", appears in New Poems [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Der Auszug des verlorenen Sohnes"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Anne Charlotte Clarke (b. 1960), "The Departure of the Prodigal Son", 1998 [ voice and band ], from Just After Sunset, no. 16 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

This text was added to the website: 2023-09-11
Line count: 28
Word count: 192

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