One might say | Abandon within abandon

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Abandon entouré d'abandon

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG GER

Abandon entouré d'abandon,
tendresse touchant aux tendresses...
C'est ton intérieur qui sans cesse
se caresse, dirait-on ;

se caresse en soi-même,
par son propre reflet éclairé.
Ainsi tu inventes le thème
du Narcisse exhaucé.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Poèmes français, in 3. Les Roses, no. 5, first published 1927 [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 Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943), "Dirait-on", 1993, first performed 1994 [ chorus and piano ], from Les Chansons des Roses, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "One might say", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-01-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 33

One might say

Language: English after the French (Français)

Abandon within abandon,
tenderness touching tenderness...
It is your inner self that ceaselessly 
caresses itself, one might say;

caresses itself within itself,
illuminated by its own reflection.
Thus you invent the theme
of the fulfilled Narcissus.

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 3. Les Roses, no. 5, first published 1927
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-08
Line count: 8
Word count: 36