Sonnets to Orpheus I.19

Sonnets to Orpheus Part I.19

by Rainer Maria Rilke

While the world shifts as swiftly

as shapes in the clouds,

all things completed fall

home to ancient ground.

Beyond the paths and changes,

further and freer,

your hushed song yet endures,

God with the lyre.

Not that suffering is known,

it is not that love is learned,

and what in death distances

us, is not unveiled.

Only this song over land

heals and celebrates.

[trans A. Badagnani]
copyright © 2019 Adria Badagnani