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Autumn Day

   

by Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated from German by Derrick Evans Willer

 

Lord: it is time.  The enormous summer has gone by.
Now cover the sundials with your shadows,
and on the fields let the winds go free.

Command the fruits to swell on tree and vine;
grant them a few more Mediterranean days,
urge them on to completion then, and press
the final sweetness into the heavy wine.

Whoever has no house now, will never have one.
Whoever is alone now, will forever remain alone,
will sit, read, write long letters through the evening,
and wander along the streets, up and down,
restlessly, while the dead leaves blow away.

 

 
     
   

 

Copyright © 2002 D.E. Willer. All rights reserved.