# Das Bett · The Bed

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems: The Other Part

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

**1** Laß sie meinen, daß sich in privater  
Let her suppose that in private
> Imperative plus bare infinitive: Lass is the imperative of lassen, 'to let, allow'. Followed by a bare infinitive, meinen, it forms the causative, 'let her suppose, make her think'. sie is the accusative object of lassen and the subject of meinen.
> Adjective separated from its noun: privater is a feminine dative adjective whose noun, Wehmut, only arrives at the start of the next line: in privater Wehmut. German lets an attributive adjective sit apart from its noun across a line break.

**2** Wehmut löst, was einer dort bestritt.  
melancholy dissolves what someone contended there.
> Noun for tender sadness: Wehmut is 'melancholy, plaintive sorrow', a wistful sadness rather than sharp pain. It is built from weh, 'aching, sore', and Mut, here in its old sense 'state of mind'.
> Verb with two related meanings: bestritt is the simple past of bestreiten, which can mean both 'to dispute, deny' and 'to fight out, contest'. was einer dort bestritt means 'what someone there contested'.

**3** Nirgend sonst als da ist ein Theater;  
Nowhere else but there is a theater;
> Fixed phrase for nowhere else: nirgend is a poetic short form of nirgends, 'nowhere'; sonst means 'else, otherwise'; da points back to the bed. Nirgend sonst als da means 'nowhere else but there'.

**4** reiß den hohen Vorhang fort–; da tritt  
tear the high curtain away–; there steps
> Separable verb in the imperative: fortreissen, 'to tear away, wrench off', is separable; in the imperative the prefix fort moves to the end of the clause: reiss den hohen Vorhang fort, 'tear the high curtain away'.
> Verb held back, subject delayed further: da tritt, 'there steps', begins a sentence whose subject does not appear until later, jene Stunde, in the next stanza. Rilke ends this line on the bare stem tritt, part of the separable verb auftreten, 'to step forward, make an entrance'.


**5** vor den Chor der Nächte, der begann  
before the chorus of nights, which began

**6** ein unendlich breites Lied zu sagen,  
to speak an endlessly wide song,
> zu-infinitive completes the verb: beginnen governs a zu-infinitive: der begann ... ein Lied zu sagen, 'which began to speak a song'. The infinitive zu sagen is held to the end of the clause, completing begann from the line above.

**7** jene Stunde auf, bei der sie lagen,  
that hour, the hour at which they lay,
> Delayed subject with a separable verb: jene Stunde, 'that hour', is the long-delayed subject of da tritt ... auf from the earlier stanza; auf is the separable prefix completing auftreten, 'to make an entrance'.
> Relative clause with dative pronoun: bei der sie lagen means 'at, during which they lay'. The relative pronoun der is feminine dative, governed by bei, and refers back to Stunde. lagen is the plural simple past of liegen, 'to lie'.

**8** und zerreißt ihr Kleid und klagt sich an,  
and rends her garment and accuses herself,
> Separable reflexive verb for self-accusation: anklagen, 'to accuse', is separable; with the reflexive sich it means 'to accuse oneself'. The prefix an strands at the clause end: klagt sich ... an, 'accuses herself'.


**9** um der andern, um der Stunde willen,  
for the sake of the other, for the hour's sake,
> Two-part preposition with genitive: um ... willen is a two-part preposition meaning 'for the sake of', and it takes the genitive: um der Stunde willen, 'for the hour's sake'. The genitive nouns sit inside the frame, with willen closing it.

**10** die sich wehrt und wälzt im Hintergrunde;  
which resists and writhes in the background;
> Two reflexive verbs paired by sound: sich wehren, 'to resist, defend oneself', and sich wälzen, 'to roll, writhe, toss', are paired reflexive verbs. im Hintergrunde means 'in the background'.

**11** denn sie konnte sie mit sich nicht stillen.  
for she could not still it within herself.
> Coordinating conjunction keeps normal order: denn, 'for, because', is a coordinating conjunction, so unlike weil it does not push the verb to the end: denn sie konnte ... keeps normal main-clause word order.
> Verb for soothing or settling: stillen means 'to still, soothe, quiet', also 'to satisfy' a hunger or thirst, or to nurse an infant. mit sich ... stillen means settling something within oneself.

**12** Aber da sie zu der fremden Stunde  
But when she, to the strange hour,
> da as a temporal conjunction: Here da is not the adverb 'there' but the conjunction 'when, since, as', introducing a subordinate clause. It sends the verb to the end, which lands as sich gebeugt in the next line.


**13** sich gebeugt: da war auf ihr,  
had bent down: there was upon her,
> Participle closes a da-clause: sich beugen means 'to bend, bow down'. The past participle gebeugt closes the da-clause opened in the line before, with the auxiliary hat elided, as verse sometimes allows.

**14** was sie am Geliebten einst gefunden,  
what she had once found in the beloved,
> Adjectival noun in the dative: der Geliebte, 'the beloved man', is an adjectival noun, declined like an adjective; am Geliebten equals an dem Geliebten, dative, 'in, on the beloved'. einst means 'once, formerly'.

**15** nur so drohend und so groß verbunden  
only joined so threateningly and so vast
> Past participle used as adjective: verbunden is the past participle of verbinden, 'to join, bind, connect'. Here it works as an adjective describing what was found, now 'bound together' so drohend und so groß, 'so threatening and so vast'.

**16** und entzogen wie in einem Tier.  
and withdrawn as if in an animal.
> Past participle for withdrawal: entzogen is the past participle of entziehen, 'to withdraw, remove, deprive'. Paired with verbunden in the line before, it leaves the thing both bound and pulled away, wie in einem Tier, 'as though in an animal'.

---

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.