The Goddess | In the empty drowsing midday

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

La déesse

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Au midi vide qui dort 
combien de fois elle passe, 
sans laisser à la terrasse 
le moindre soupçon d'un corps. 

Mais si la nature la sent, 
l'habitude de l'invisible 
rend une clarté terrible 
à son doux contour apparent.

Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 166.

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "La déesse", appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 28 [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 Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "La déesse", op. 21 no. 9 (1986) [ medium voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
by André-François Marescotti (1902 - 1995), "La Déesse", published 1947 [ high voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 3, Éd. Jean Jobert [sung text not yet checked]
by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "La déesse", op. 65 (Neuf mélodies) no. 1 (1973) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Goddess", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 38

The Goddess

Language: English after the French (Français)

In the empty drowsing midday
how many times she passes,
without leaving on the terrace 
the slightest hint of a body.

But if nature senses her,
the ways of the invisible world 
give a dreadful clarity 
to her soft visible shape.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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 déesse", appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 28
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-07-01
Line count: 8
Word count: 41