# Die Brandstätte · The Site of the Fire

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

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

**1** Gemieden von dem Frühherbstmorgen, der  
Shunned by the early-autumn morning, which
> Past participle of meiden: gemieden is the past participle of the strong verb meiden, 'to avoid, to shun', used here as an adjective. The line opens with this participle, describing the burnt site. The strong verb pattern is meiden, mied, gemieden.

**2** mißtrauisch war, lag hinter den versengten  
was mistrustful, lay behind the scorched
> Mistrustful, suspicious: mißtrauisch means 'mistrustful, suspicious', from das Mißtrauen, 'mistrust' (miß- plus trauen, 'to trust'). It is printed here with ß in the old spelling; modern orthography writes misstrauisch.

**3** Hauslinden, die das Heidehaus beengten,  
house-lindens that hemmed the heath-house close,
> Two German compounds: Hauslinden are linden trees standing by the house; Heidehaus is the house on the heath, from die Heide, 'heath, moor'. German builds such nouns by joining stems. beengten, from beengen, 'to cramp, hem in', is the plural past tense.

**4** ein Neues, Leeres. Eine Stelle mehr,  
a new thing, an empty thing. One place more,
> Adjectives used as neuter nouns: ein Neues, Leeres turns the adjectives neu and leer into neuter nouns: 'a new thing, an empty thing'. German freely nominalizes adjectives this way, capitalizing them and giving them neuter endings after ein.


**5** auf welcher Kinder, von Gott weiß woher,  
on which children, from God knows where,
> Relative pronoun in the dative: welcher is a relative pronoun referring back to Stelle, 'place' (feminine), at the end of the previous stanza. After auf denoting location it takes the dative: auf welcher, 'on which'. von Gott weiß woher is an idiom, 'from God-knows-where'.

**6** einander zuschrien und nach Fetzen haschten.  
shouted to one another and snatched at scraps.
> Separable verb zuschreien: zuschreien, 'to shout at, toward someone', is separable, and appears here in the past tense with einander, 'one another': einander zuschrien means 'shouted to one another'. nach etwas haschen means 'to snatch or grab at something'; Fetzen are 'scraps, shreds'.

**7** Doch alle wurden stille, sooft er,  
Yet all of them fell silent whenever he,
> A conjunction meaning whenever: sooft is a subordinating conjunction meaning 'whenever, every time that'. It sends the verb of its clause to the end, arriving several lines later. wurden stille means 'grew silent', using the older inflected form stille for still.

**8** der Sohn von hier, aus heißen, halbveraschten  
the son of this place, from hot, half-ashen
> A Rilke coinage: halbverascht joins halb, 'half', with verascht, a participle built from Asche, 'ash': 'half turned to ash'. der Sohn von hier means 'the son of this place'. heißen here is the adjective heiß, 'hot', declined dative plural, not the verb heißen, 'to be called'.


**9** Gebälken Kessel und verbogne Tröge  
beams, dragged kettles and warped troughs
> Gebälk and verbogne: das Gebälk is the collective noun for a building's timber framing; the Ge- prefix gathers many Balken, 'beams', into one mass. Here it is dative plural after aus. verbogne is a contracted spelling of verbogene, the participle of verbiegen, 'to bend out of shape'.

**10** mit einem langen Gabelaste zog,–  
with a long forked branch, —
> Gabelast and the verb zog: der Gabelast is a forked branch, from Gabel, 'fork', and Ast, 'branch', in the dative Gabelaste here. zog is the past tense of ziehen, 'to pull, drag'; it is the main verb of the sooft-clause begun several lines earlier, arriving only now.

**11** um dann mit einem Blick, als ob er löge,  
then, with a look as if he were lying,
> als ob with subjunctive: als ob introduces an unreal comparison, 'as though', and takes the subjunctive. löge is Konjunktiv II of lügen, 'to lie, tell an untruth': the phrase means 'though he were lying'. um ... anzusehn, in the next line, is the um ... zu construction, 'in order to look at'.

**12** die andern anzusehn, die er bewog  
to look at the others, whom he moved
> bewegen meaning 'to induce': bewog is the past tense of bewegen in its strong sense, 'to move someone to do something, to induce' (conjugated bewegen, bewog, bewogen; the everyday sense 'to move physically' is weak, bewegte). die er bewog means 'whom he induced', a relative clause running into the next stanza.


**13** zu glauben, was an dieser Stelle stand.  
to believe in what once stood on this spot.

**14** Denn seit es nicht mehr war, schien es ihm so  
For since it was no more, it seemed to him so
> seit sends its verb to the end: denn here is the coordinating 'for, because' and does not invert the word order. seit, 'since', is the conjunction sending its verb to the end: seit es nicht mehr war means 'since it no longer existed'. war alone can mean 'existed'.

**15** seltsam: phantastischer als Pharao.  
strange: more fantastical than Pharaoh.
> Comparative with als: phantastischer als is the comparative of phantastisch, 'fantastical', plus als, 'than': 'more fantastical than'. The older spelling keeps the ph-; modern German writes fantastisch.

**16** Und er war anders, wie aus fernem Land.  
And he was changed, as though from a far country.
> Different, changed: anders means 'different, other, changed'. wie aus fernem Land means 'as though from a far country', with fernem taking the dative ending -em after aus, agreeing with neuter Land.

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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.