# Abschied · Parting

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/abschied. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/abschied.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Wie hab ich das gefühlt, was Abschied heißt.  
How I have felt that thing called parting.
> heißen meaning to be called: heißen here means 'to be called, to be named', not 'to be called out'. was Abschied heißt means 'that which is called parting', with was as the subject of heißt and Abschied as what it names.

**2** Wie weiß ichs noch: ein dunkles unverwundnes  
How I still know it: a dark, unhealed,
> A colloquial contraction of ich es: ichs contracts ich es, 'I it', a colloquial fusion common in spoken and poetic German. weiß ichs noch means 'I still know it', with weiß as the first-person present of wissen, 'to know'.
> A shortened negated past participle: unverwundnes is a shortened form of unverwundenes, the negated past participle of verwinden, 'to get over, overcome'. It means 'unhealed, not gotten over', describing a wound of feeling rather than a physical injury.

**3** grausames Etwas, das ein Schönverbundnes  
cruel Something that holds a beautifully-bound thing
> ein dunkles... Etwas: Etwas, capitalized, is used here as a noun meaning 'a Something', an unnamed force. grausames Etwas means 'cruel Something', with grausames agreeing with the neuter noun in the nominative, and das introducing a relative clause describing it.
> A coined compound noun: Schönverbundnes is a coined compound noun from schön, 'beautiful', and verbunden, the past participle of verbinden, 'to bind, join together'. It means 'a beautifully-bound thing', naming what the cruel Something holds and then tears apart.

**4** noch einmal zeigt und hinhält und zerreißt.  
once more, shows it and holds it out and tears it apart.
> Holding something out: hinhalten means 'to hold something out, extend it toward someone'. hinhält is its present-tense, third-person form, one of three verbs, one of three verbs (zeigt, hinhält, zerreißt) describing the same cruel Something acting on the beautifully-bound thing.


**5** Wie war ich ohne Wehr, dem zuzuschauen,  
How defenseless I was, watching it,
> Without any defense: die Wehr means 'defense, resistance'. ohne Wehr means 'without defense, defenseless', with ohne taking the accusative. It describes the speaker's state while watching what happens next.
> An infinitive for watching it: zuschauen means 'to watch, look on'; zu is inserted before the verb stem to form the infinitive, zuzuschauen. dem, dative, refers back to the scene just described, so dem zuzuschauen means 'to watch it, watching that'.

**6** das, da es mich, mich rufend, gehen ließ,  
which, as it, calling me, calling, let me go,
> da, causal 'as, since': da here means 'as, since', introducing the reason for what follows, not a place. da es mich... gehen ließ means 'as it let me go', with es as the subject and gehen ließ, 'let go', as its verb, split by the parenthetical mich rufend.
> A participle inserted mid-clause: rufend is the present participle of rufen, 'to call'; mich, 'me', is its object. mich rufend means 'calling me', inserted as an aside between es and gehen ließ, describing how it acted even as it let the speaker go.

**7** zurückblieb, so als wärens alle Frauen  
stayed behind, as if it were all women
> A contraction, they were: wärens contracts wären es, 'they were'. so als wärens alle Frauen means 'as though it were all women', using Subjunctive II with a plural verb, wären, because the intended sense is plural, 'all women', even though es itself is singular.

**8** und dennoch klein und weiß und nichts als dies:  
and yet small and white and nothing but this:
> Nothing but this: nichts als means 'nothing but, only'. nichts als dies means 'nothing but this', with dies, 'this', as the pronoun that closes the sentence after a list of what remains: klein und weiß, 'small and white'.


**9** Ein Winken, schon nicht mehr auf mich bezogen,  
A wave of the hand, already no longer meant for me,
> An infinitive turned into a wave: Winken is the infinitive of winken, 'to wave', used here as a neuter noun: 'a waving, a wave [of the hand]'. It is the subject of the sentence, described further by the participle bezogen two words later.
> Directed at, meant for: bezogen is the past participle of beziehen, used here to mean 'directed at, meant for'. auf mich bezogen means 'directed at me, meant for me', describing the wave as no longer aimed at the speaker.

**10** ein leise Weiterwinkendes–, schon kaum  
a softly going-on-waving thing—, already scarcely
> A coined noun for an ongoing wave: Weiterwinkendes is the present participle of weiterwinken, 'to go on waving', turned into a neuter noun: 'a still-waving thing'. Rilke coins it here, alongside leise, 'softly', to describe a gesture fading into something no longer quite a wave.

**11** erklärbar mehr: vielleicht ein Pflaumenbaum,  
explicable any more: a plum tree, perhaps,
> Scarcely explicable any longer: erklärbar means 'explicable, able to be explained', from erklären, 'to explain'. kaum... mehr means 'scarcely... any longer'. kaum erklärbar mehr means 'scarcely explicable any longer', describing the wave from the line before.

**12** von dem ein Kuckuck hastig abgeflogen.  
from which a cuckoo has hastily flown off.
> Past participle of flying off: abgeflogen is the past participle of abfliegen, 'to fly off, take off', with the prefix ab-, 'away'. von dem ein Kuckuck... abgeflogen means 'from which a cuckoo has flown off', with dem as a relative pronoun referring to Pflaumenbaum, 'plum tree'.

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Source text: public domain (Rainer Maria Rilke, died 1926; Neue Gedichte published 1907 and 1908), from Wikisource. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.