Song of the suicide | Well, then, one final look around

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Das Lied des Selbstmörders

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: FRE

Also noch einen Augenblick.
Daß sie mir immer wieder den Strick
zerschneiden.
Neulich war ich so gut bereit
und es war schon ein wenig Ewigkeit
in meinen Eingeweiden.
 
Halten sie mir den Löffel her,
diesen Löffel Leben.
Nein ich will und ich will nicht mehr,
laßt mich mich übergeben.
 
Ich weiß das Leben ist gar und gut
und die Welt ist ein voller Topf,
aber mir geht es nicht ins Blut,
mir steigt es nur zu Kopf.
 
Andere nährt es, mich macht es krank;
begreift, daß man's verschmäht.
Mindestens ein Jahrtausend lang
brauch ich jetzt Diät.

Confirmed with Das Buch der Bilder von Rainer Maria Rilke, Leipzig, Iminsel-Verlag, 1920, page 137.

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Das Lied des Selbstmörders", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, in Die Stimmen: Neun Blätter mit einem Titelblatt, no. 5, first published 1906 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Antal Doráti (1906 - 1988), "Das Lied des Selbstmörders", 1975, orchestrated 1978 [ bass and piano or orchestra ], from Die Stimmen, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, a translation by Albert Ernest Flemming , "Song of the suicide", appears in Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, first published 1986, copyright © ; composed by Stephen Paulus.
- Go to the text.

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

FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La chanson du suicidé", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-10
Line count: 18
Word count: 96

Song of the suicide

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Well, then, one final look around
 [ ... ]

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

Text Authorship:

by Albert Ernest Flemming , "Song of the suicide", appears in Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, first published 1986, copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Das Lied des Selbstmörders", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, in Die Stimmen: Neun Blätter mit einem Titelblatt, no. 5, first published 1906
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Stephen Paulus (b. 1949), "Song of the suicide", copyright © 1998 [SATB chorus with divisi to SSSAATTTTBBB and full orchestra], from Voices, no. 4, Paulus Publications [ sung text checked 1 time]

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 107