German · New Poems: The Other Part

Die Flamingos

The Flamingos

14 lines · 14 notes

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1
In mirror-images as though by Fragonard,
Ininin · prepositiondepends on ist
Spiegelbildernmirror-imagesSpiegelbild · noun, dative, neuter, pluraldepends on In
wieas thoughwie · conjunction, comparativedepends on Spiegelbildern
vonbyvon · prepositiondepends on wie
FragonardFragonardFragonard · proper noun, dative, masculine, singulardepends on von
WordMirror-image, a compound noun das Spiegelbild is 'mirror-image, reflection', from Spiegel, 'mirror', and Bild, 'image'. The dative plural in Spiegelbildern, 'in mirror-images', opens the poem inside reflections rather than on the birds themselves.
2
no more is given of their white and their red
WordRedness as an abstract noun die Röte is the abstract noun 'redness, the color red', from rot, paired here with das Weiß, 'the white'. German freely turns colors into nouns: ihr Weiß und ihre Röte means 'their white and their red'.
3
than someone would offer you
GrammarSubjunctive of to offer böte is Konjunktiv II of bieten, 'to offer', used in a hypothetical comparison: nicht mehr ... als dir einer böte, 'no more than someone would offer you'. The subjunctive keeps the comparison conditional; dir is the dative 'to you'.
4
when, of his sweetheart, he says: she was
WordGirlfriend, not just friend die Freundin is 'female friend', but with the possessive seiner Freundin, 'his Freundin', the sense is 'his girlfriend, his sweetheart'. The line runs on past the stanza break; the lover's sentence sie war, 'she was', only completes in the next stanza.
5
still soft with sleep. For when they step into the green
GrammarDenn plus verb-first clause After the causal denn, 'for, because', the verb steigen comes first and the subject sie follows, read as a conditional: 'for when they step...'. Its consequence arrives at verführen sie three lines down. ins Grüne means 'into the green' of the garden.
6
and stand, on rose-pink stalks lightly turned,
WordStem, not the usual leg word der Stiel is the stalk or stem of a plant, not the usual word for a bird's leg. auf rosa Stielen, 'on rose-pink stalks', turns the flamingos' legs into flower-stems. rosa, 'pink', is invariable and never takes an ending.
7
together, blossoming, as in a flower-bed,
WordGarden bed, the flower metaphor das Beet is a cultivated garden bed, a flower-bed or vegetable-bed. wie in einem Beet, 'as in a flower-bed', completes the floral metaphor begun with Stielen and blühend, 'blossoming'.
8
they seduce, more seductive than Phryne,
GrammarVerb and its own comparative verführen means 'to seduce'; verführender is the comparative of the present participle used as an adjective, 'more seductive'. verführen sie verführender als ... means 'they seduce, more seductively than...', pairing verb and comparative from one root.
9
themselves; until they tuck the paleness of their eye
GrammarReflexive object held back sich selber, 'themselves', is the reflexive object of verführen from the previous stanza, held across the break: they seduce, themselves. ihres Auges Bleiche, 'the paleness of their eye', places a genitive before its noun, an elevated word order.
10
necking it away into their own soft down,
WordA coined participle from neck hinhalsend is an invented present participle built from Hals, 'neck', and the directional hin-, 'thither, away', roughly 'craning the neck over and away'. bergen means 'to tuck away, conceal'; die Weiche here is the soft flank where the eye is hidden.
11
in which black and fruit-red hide themselves away.
WordFruit-red, a compound color Fruchtrot joins Frucht, 'fruit', and rot, 'red', naming the deep ripe red of fruit. in welcher Schwarz und Fruchtrot sich versteckt means 'in which black and fruit-red hide themselves', the colors of the plumage folded out of sight.
12
All at once a shriek of envy rips through the aviary;
WordEnvy given a sound der Neid, 'envy', is normally an uncountable feeling; kreischt ein Neid, 'a cry of envy shrieks', makes it an audible thing. kreischen means 'to screech, shriek'; die Volière is the aviary.
13
but they have stretched themselves up, astonished,
GrammarReflexive verb in the perfect sich strecken means 'to stretch oneself, draw oneself up tall'; in the perfect, haben sich ... gestreckt means 'have stretched themselves up'. erstaunt, 'astonished', is a past participle used adverbially, and aber, 'but', turns the birds against the shriek before.
14
and stride, one by one, into the imaginary.
WordAdjective made into a noun das Imaginäre, 'the imaginary', is an adjective turned into a neuter noun; ins is in das. schreiten is a stately, ceremonious 'to stride'; einzeln means 'singly, one by one', as the birds move into this closing abstraction.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems: The Other Part.
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