O how all things are far removed <br />and long have passed away. <br />I do believe the star, <br />whose light my face reflects, <br />is dead and has been so <br />for many thousand years. <br /> <br />I had a vision of a passing boat <br />and heard some voices saying disquieting things. <br />I heard a clock strike in some distant house... <br />but in which house?... <br /> <br />I long to quiet my anxious heart <br />and stand beneath the sky's immensity. <br />I long to pray... <br />And one of all the stars <br />must still exist. <br />I do believe that I would know <br />which one alone <br />endured, <br />and which like a white city stands <br />at the ray's end shining in the heavens. <br /> <br /> <br />Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming<br /><br />Rainer Maria Rilke<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lament-o-how-all-things-are-far-removed/
