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Rainer Maria Rilke

1875-1926. Admired by his contemporary poets, but not well-known among the general public until after his death, Rainer Maria Rilke is now considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He is especially famous for the nonfiction Letters to a Young Poet, for The Duino Elegies, and for the oft-anthologized poem, "The Archaic Torso of Apollo."

You who never arrived

15 February 2009
Vol. 8, No. 4
poetry, classic, translation

You who never arrived

in my arms, Beloved, who were lost

from the start,

I don't even know what songs

would please you.

Again and again, however we know the landscape of love

14 February 2009
Vol. 8, No. 4
poetry, classic, translation

again and again the two of us walk out together

under the ancient trees, lie down again and again

among the flowers…

Love Song

15 February 2008
Vol. 7, No. 4
poetry, classic, translation

Yet everything that touches us, me and you,

takes us together like a violin's bow,

which draws one voice out of two separate strings.