The poem
I am like a flag in the center of open space. I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live it through. while the things of the world still do not move: the doors still close softly, and the chimneys are full of silence, the windows do not rattle yet, and the dust still lies down.
I already know the storm, and I am troubled as the sea. I leap out, and fall back, and throw myself out, and am absolutely alone in the great storm.
I have "An Anthology of World Poetry", edited by Mark Van Doren and originally published by Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1928. The translator for this poem is [Jessie Lemont], and he Titles it "PRESAGING", for Sense of Something Coming, and the wording is different. I include the poem as in The Anthology: PRESAGING I am like a flag unfurled in space, I scent the oncoming winds and must bend with them, While the…
Read the whole commentI have "An Anthology of World Poetry", edited by Mark Van Doren and originally published by Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1928.
The translator for this poem is [Jessie Lemont], and he Titles it "PRESAGING", for Sense of Something Coming, and the wording is different. I include the poem as in The Anthology:
PRESAGING
I am like a flag unfurled in space,
I scent the oncoming winds and must bend with them,
While the things beneath are not yet stirring,
While the doors close gently and there is silence in the chimneys
And the windows do not yet tremble and the dust is still heavy---
Then I feel the storm and am vibrant like the sea
And expand and withdraw into myself
And thrust myself forth and am alone in the great storm.
I have a book of rilke poems translated by m.d. herter norton, and mine's different too. in mine it's called "presentiment", which i think is cooler.
i love this poem because it proves rilke is a genius. all geniuses can sense the imminence of doom or something coming the way us normal mortals cannot. and the fact that he expresses it in such a beautiful way just adds to his merit as a person, of course.