German · New Poems: The Other Part

Buddha in der Glorie

Buddha in Glory

12 lines · 13 notes

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1
Center of all centers, kernel of kernels,
MitteCenterMitte · noun, nominative, feminine, singularhead of the phrase
allerallaller · determiner, genitive, feminine, pluraldepends on Mitten
MittencentersMitte · noun, genitive, feminine, pluraldepends on Mitte
KernkernelKern · noun, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Mitte
dertheder · determiner, genitive, masculine, pluraldepends on Kerne
KernekernelsKern · noun, genitive, masculine, pluraldepends on Kern
GrammarGenitive plural for the superlative Mitte aller Mitten, 'center of all centers', and Kern der Kerne, 'kernel of kernels', put a noun in the genitive plural after itself to mark its absolute degree, the same pattern as 'King of Kings'. aller is genitive plural of alle.
2
almond that encloses itself and grows sweet,–
GrammarSeparable verb, reflexive here einschließen, 'to enclose, shut in', is separable: its prefix ein- moves to the end of the clause, die sich einschließt. It is also reflexive, sich, so the almond encloses itself. versüßt, from the inseparable versüßen, 'to sweeten', stays whole.
3
all of this, out to the farthest stars,
Grammarbis an takes the accusative bis an means 'as far as, right up to' and takes the accusative; alle Sterne, 'all the stars', is its object. bis and an work together as one compound preposition here rather than separately.
4
is your fruit-flesh: be greeted.
WordA compound noun for pulp Fruchtfleisch literally joins Frucht, 'fruit', and Fleisch, 'flesh, meat', to name the soft pulp of a fruit. German fuses the two into a single noun where English needs a hyphen: 'fruit-flesh'.
GrammarPassive formed with the imperative sei is the imperative of sein, 'be', and gegrüßt is the past participle of grüßen, 'to greet'; together they form a passive command, 'be greeted'. This fixed formula works like the Latin salutation 'ave'.
5
See — you feel how nothing clings to you any longer;
Grammarhängen an takes the dative hängen an, 'to hang on, cling to', governs the dative: an dir, 'to you'. nichts mehr is 'nothing any longer' and is the subject of hängt. wie here is the subordinating conjunction 'how', introducing fühlst's clause.
6
your husk lies in the infinite,
GrammarAdjective turned into a noun unendlich, 'infinite', is nominalized here as das Unendliche, 'the infinite'; im is a contraction of in dem. German capitalizes and declines adjectives this way when they stand alone as nouns. Schale means 'shell, rind, husk'.
7
and there the strong sap stands and presses.
WordTwo verbs, stehen and drängen Saft means 'sap, juice'. stehen here means the sap stands gathered, at the full, rather than simply upright. drängen means 'to press, push, urge'. Both verbs share der starke Saft as their subject, joined by und.
8
And from outside a radiance helps it,
Grammarhelfen governs the dative helfen, 'to help', takes a dative object, not accusative: hilft ihm, 'helps it'. ihm refers back to der Saft. ein Gestrahle is the subject, a noun Rilke builds from strahlen, 'to radiate', with the collective Ge- ... -e frame.
9
for high above, your suns are being
GrammarPassive auxiliary strands its participle werden is the passive auxiliary here, completed only in the next line by the participle umgedreht: deine Sonnen werden ... umgedreht, 'your suns are turned around'. German can hold the participle far from werden. denn means 'for, because'.
10
wheeled full and glowing round.
WordPast participle completes the passive umdrehen, 'to turn around, rotate', is separable; umgedreht is its past participle, completing the passive begun by werden in the line above. voll and glühend, 'full' and 'glowing', are uninflected predicate adjectives modifying the same subject.
11
Yet within you has already begun
Grammarsein where haben is expected beginnen normally forms its perfect with haben: hat begonnen. Here ist begonnen instead reads as a state passive, 'is already begun', naming a resulting state rather than a completed action. doch means 'yet' and schon means 'already'.
12
what will outlast the suns.
Wordüberstehen takes a direct object überstehen means 'to survive, outlast, withstand' and takes a direct accusative object: was die Sonnen übersteht, 'what outlasts the suns'. was, 'that which', is the subject of this relative clause, with die Sonnen as the object of übersteht.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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