Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). Moonlight Night. Margarete Munsterberg, ed., trans. 1916. A Harvest of German Verse

Verse > Anthologies > Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. > A Harvest of German Verse

Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916.

Moonlight Night

By Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)


SOUTH German night, spread out beneath the moon,
And mild as if all fairy tales were there;
The hours fall from the steeple in a swoon,
As if into some deep and hidden lair.—
A murmur and a rustling round the pond,	5
Then silence hangs but empty in the air;
And then a violin (God knows from where)
Awakes and says quite tranquilly:
A blonde—