The Doe | O doe, what lovely ancient forest

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

La biche

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ENG GER

Ô la biche : quel bel intérieur
d'anciennes forêts dans tes yeux abonde ; 
combien de confiance ronde 
mêlée à combien de peur.

Tout cela, porté par la vive 
gracilité de tes bonds. 
Mais jamais rien n'arrive 
à cette impossessive 
ignorance de ton front.

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "La biche", written 1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 57 [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 Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "La biche", op. 42 no. 1 (1932), published 1966 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 1, Éd. Le Chant du Monde [sung text checked 1 time]
by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "La biche", 1939 [ mixed chorus ], from Six Chansons, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "La biche", op. 61 (Sept mélodies) no. 2 (1972), published 1972 [ medium voice and piano ], Amsterdam, Ed. Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The doe", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Doe", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Das Reh", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 9
Word count: 42

The Doe

Language: English after the French (Français)

O doe, what lovely ancient forest 
depths abound in your eyes; 
how much open trust 
mixed with how much fear.

All this, borne by the brisk 
gracility of your bounds. 
But nothing ever disturbs 
that unpossessive 
unawareness of your brow.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2001 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), "La biche", written 1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 57
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-06
Line count: 9
Word count: 40