# Die ägyptische Maria · Mary of Egypt

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

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

**1** Seit sie damals, bettheiß, als die Hure  
Since back then, bed-hot, when she, the whore,
> A coined compound: Bettheiß welds Bett, 'bed', to heiß, 'hot': 'bed-hot', still warm from the bed. German freely fuses two words into a new adjective this way. Die Hure, 'the whore', names her former trade directly.

**2** übern Jordan floh und, wie ein Grab  
fled across the Jordan and, like a grave
> A contracted preposition: Übern fuses über, 'over, across', with the accusative article den: full form über den Jordan. The accusative marks motion across a boundary, here the river crossed in flight. The contraction is a clipped, spoken form.

**3** gebend, stark und unvermischt das pure  
giving, strong and unmixed, the pure
> A negated participle as adverb: Unvermischt, 'unmixed, undiluted', comes from vermischen, 'to blend', with the negating prefix un-. It depends on the present participle gebend, 'giving', in the same line, and reaches forward with stark, 'strong', and pure, 'pure', to modify Herz, 'heart', in the next line.

**4** Herz der Ewigkeit zu trinken gab,  
heart of eternity she gave to drink,
> An idiom for giving drink: Jemandem etwas zu trinken geben is the fixed idiom 'to give someone something to drink'. Its object, Herz der Ewigkeit, 'heart of eternity', is held back across two lines before the verb gab, 'gave', closes the sentence.


**5** wuchs ihr frühes Hingegebensein  
her early state of self-surrender grew
> Surrender made a noun: Hingegebensein is built from the past participle of sich hingeben, 'to give oneself up, devote oneself', plus Sein, 'being': literally 'the state of being given-over'. German can pack a whole condition into one abstract neuter noun this way.

**6** unaufhaltsam an zu solcher Größe,  
unstoppably to such a greatness on,
> A separable verb: The verb is anwachsen, 'to grow, increase'. Its prefix an is stranded on this line while the stem wuchs, 'grew', sits back on the line before. Unaufhaltsam, 'unstoppably', modifies the growing.

**7** daß sie endlich, wie die ewige Blöße  
that at last, like the everlasting bareness
> Result clause, verb to the end: Daß, 'that, so that', opens a subordinate result clause: her surrender grew to such greatness that a consequence follows. In a daß-clause the finite verb moves to the very end, here dalag, which arrives only at the start of the next stanza.

**8** aller, aus vergilbtem Elfenbein  
of all, out of yellowed ivory
> Yellowed with age: Vergilbtem is the past participle of vergilben, 'to turn yellow', as old paper or ivory does with time. Its dative ending -em follows aus, 'out of, made of': aus vergilbtem Elfenbein, 'of yellowed ivory.'


**9** dalag in der dürren Haare Schelfe.  
lay there in the husk of her dry hair.
> The held-back verb lands: Dalag is the separable verb daliegen, 'to lie there', in the simple past: da, 'there', plus lag, 'lay'. It is the finite verb of the daß-clause begun two lines earlier, finally arriving here. Der dürren Haare Schelfe reverses normal order: 'the husk of the dry hair.'

**10** Und ein Löwe kreiste; und ein Alter  
And a lion circled; and an old man
> Adjective used as a noun: Alter here is the adjective alt, 'old', turned into a noun meaning 'an old man'. German capitalizes and inflects such adjectives like nouns. Kreiste, 'circled', past of kreisen, describes the lion's watchful movement.

**11** rief ihn winkend an, daß er ihm helfe:  
called to it, beckoning, to help him out:
> Separable prefix and a subjunctive: Rief ... an is the separable verb anrufen, 'to call to, hail', its prefix an stranded at the line's end. Helfe is the present subjunctive of helfen, 'to help', marking the old man's wish that the lion should help him; helfen also takes the dative, so ihm, 'him', is dative, not accusative.


**12** (und so gruben sie zu zwein.)  
(and so the two of them dug together.)
> The two together: Zu zwein is an archaic, poetic form of zu zweit, 'as a pair, together, the two of them'. Gruben is the simple past of graben, 'to dig'; man and lion dig the grave together.


**13** Und der Alte neigte sie hinein.  
And the old man bent her down into it.
> Motion 'into' from the speaker's view: Hinein means 'into, in there': hin marks movement away from the speaker, ein the going-in. It functions like a separable element on neigte, 'bent, inclined': neigte ... hinein, 'bent her down into it.'

**14** Und der Löwe, wie ein Wappenhalter,  
And the lion, like a heraldic bearer,
> A heraldic compound: Wappenhalter combines Wappen, 'coat of arms', and Halter, 'holder, bearer'. In heraldry a supporter is the figure, often a lion, that stands beside a shield holding it up. Wie ein Wappenhalter, 'like a heraldic bearer', describes the lion's fixed pose.

**15** saß dabei und hielt den Stein.  
sat by it and held the stone.
> Accusative object: Den Stein, 'the stone', is the accusative object of hielt, past of halten, 'to hold': the masculine article shifts from der to den to mark what is held. Dabei means 'by it, alongside.'

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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.