Die nächste Flut verwischt den Weg im Watt, und alles wird auf allen Seiten gleich; die kleine Insel draußen aber hat die Augen zu; verwirrend kreist der Deich um ihre Wohner, die in einen Schlaf geboren werden, drin sie viele Welten verwechseln schweigend; denn sie reden selten, und jeder Satz ist wie ein Epitaph für etwas Angeschwemmtes, Unbekanntes, das unerklärt zu ihnen kommt und bleibt. Und so ist alles, was ihr Blick beschreibt, von Kindheit an: nicht auf sie Angewandtes, zu Großes, Rücksichtsloses, Hergesandtes, das ihre Einsamkeit noch übertreibt.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Neue Gedichte, Leipzig Insel-Verlag 1920
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Die Insel - Nordsee, no. 1 [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 Viktor Kioulaphides (b. 1961), "Die nächste Flut verwischt den Weg im Watt", first performed 2015 [ voice and piano or mandolins ], from Nordsee Lieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leopold Spinner (1906 - 1980), "Die Insel", op. 16 (Liederen) no. 3a (1960), published c2005, copyright © 1975 [ soprano and piano ], London : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Stephen Cohn , no title, appears in New Poems, in The Island in the North Sea, no. 1, copyright © ; composed by Colin Matthews.
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2023-04-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 89
The tide wipes out the path across the flats [ ... ]
About the headline (FAQ)
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with Stephen Cohn, Rainer Maria Rilke: Neue Gedichte / New poems, Evanston : Northwestern University Press, 1998, p.113
Text Authorship:
- by Stephen Cohn , no title, appears in New Poems, in The Island in the North Sea, no. 1, copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte, in Die Insel - Nordsee, no. 1
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Colin Matthews (b. 1946), "The Island in the North Sea", 2008, published 2008 [ voice, alto flute, horn, harp, piano, violin, viola, violoncello ], from The island, no. 1, Faber music [sung text not yet checked]
This text was added to the website: 2023-09-02
Line count: 14
Word count: 94