We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
Would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Original text
Archaïscher Torso Apollos
Wir kannten nicht sein unerhörtes Haupt,
darin die Augenäpfel reiften. Aber
sein Torso glüht noch wie ein Kandelaber,
in dem sein Schauen, nur zurückgeschraubt,
sich hält und glänzt. Sonst könnte nicht der Bug
der Brust dich blenden, und im leisen Drehen
der Lenden könnte nicht ein Lächeln gehen
zu jener Mitte, die die Zeugung trug.
Sonst stünde dieser Stein entstellt und kurz
unter der Schultern durchsichtigem Sturz
und flimmerte nicht so wie Raubtierfelle
Und bräche nicht aus allen seinen Rändern
aus wie ein Stern: denn da ist keine Stelle,
die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern.
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Comments
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I read the original in German and noted the shifts in the translation but it seems very faithful, the rhythm of the German language version is wonderful...even when I read it...PK
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Oh my
He wrote this poem after he'd been dead for 26 years? lol. -
This is a strong and wonderful poem, and one I read again and again, each time finding something new to ponder. Rilke always rhymed, and the translation doesn't, so here is a link to an animated film of him reading this poem; the translation there, very different to this, also rhymes, although it is not credited to anyone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szRxIdokT6Y -
My gosh, when I read the original German sonnet (which, yes, RHYMES!) I sure can hear Till from Rammstein reciting this and what a different experience it is from its English translation, which I think I may first have become aware of through a contemporary poet, Mary Oliver, who uses that one great line about "you must change your life." I think she asks it. Go look! Jetzt, schnell!
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