It's because I saw you

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

C'est pour t'avoir vue

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

C'est pour t'avoir vue
penchée à la fenêtre ultime,
que j'ai compris, que j'ai bu
tout mon abîme.

En me montrant tes bras
tendus vers la nuit,
tu as fait que, depuis,
ce qui en moi te quitta,
me quitte, me fuit...

Ton geste, fût-il la preuve
d'un adieu si grand,
qu'il me changea en vent,
qu'il me versa dans le fleuve ?

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Poèmes français. Vergers. Les Roses. Les Fenêtres. Carnet de Poche. Poèmes épars, Paris: Paul Hartmann, ed., 1935, page 106.

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Poèmes français, in 4. Les Fenêtres, no. 10 [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 Jake Heggie (b. 1961), "Epilogue: C'est pour t'avoir vue", 1988 [ voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes intérieurs de Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Gabriel Marghieri (b. 1964), "Les fenêtres" [ speaker, chorus, percussion and orchestra ], from Par-dessus l'abîme [sung text not yet checked]

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 text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-04-30
Line count: 13
Word count: 62

It's because I saw you

Language: English after the French (Français)

It's because I saw you
leaning out of the last window,
that I've understood, that I've drunk
my whole abyss.

By showing me your arms
stretched out toward the night,
you've made it so that, ever since,
the part of me that left you
is leaving me, is fleeing me...

Was your gesture the proof 
of a farewell so grand
that it turned me to wind,
that it spilled me into the river?

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Epilogue: C'est pour t'avoir vue" = "Epilogue: It's Because I Saw You"
"Les fenêtres" = "The Windows"

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, appears in Poèmes français, in 4. Les Fenêtres, no. 10
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-08-13
Line count: 13
Word count: 73