O how all things are far removed
and long have passed away.
I do believe the star,
whose light my face reflects,
is dead and has been so
for many thousand years.
I had a vision of a passing boat
and heard some voices saying disquieting things.
I heard a clock strike in some distant house...
but in which house?...
I long to quiet my anxious heart
and stand beneath the sky's immensity.
I long to pray...
And one of all the stars
must still exist.
I do believe that I would know
which one alone
endured,
and which like a white city stands
at the ray's end shining in the heavens.
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
Lament (o How All Things Are Far Removed)
Rainer Maria Rilke
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Poem topics: alone, away, city, heart, light, sky, star, pray, white, face, clock, stand, vision, quiet, beneath, shining, anxious, believe, house, long, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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