# Die Flamingos · The Flamingos

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

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

**1** In Spiegelbildern wie von Fragonard  
In mirror-images as though by Fragonard,
> Mirror-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** ist doch von ihrem Weiß und ihrer Röte  
no more is given of their white and their red
> Redness 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** nicht mehr gegeben, als dir einer böte,  
than someone would offer you
> Subjunctive 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** wenn er von seiner Freundin sagt: sie war  
when, of his sweetheart, he says: she was
> Girlfriend, 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** noch sanft von Schlaf. Denn steigen sie ins Grüne  
still soft with sleep. For when they step into the green
> Denn 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** und stehn, auf rosa Stielen leicht gedreht,  
and stand, on rose-pink stalks lightly turned,
> Stem, 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** beisammen, blühend, wie in einem Beet,  
together, blossoming, as in a flower-bed,
> Garden 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** verführen sie verführender als Phryne  
they seduce, more seductive than Phryne,
> Verb 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** sich selber; bis sie ihres Auges Bleiche  
themselves; until they tuck the paleness of their eye
> Reflexive 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** hinhalsend bergen in der eignen Weiche,  
necking it away into their own soft down,
> A 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 welcher Schwarz und Fruchtrot sich versteckt.  
in which black and fruit-red hide themselves away.
> Fruit-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** Auf einmal kreischt ein Neid durch die Volière;  
All at once a shriek of envy rips through the aviary;
> Envy 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** sie aber haben sich erstaunt gestreckt  
but they have stretched themselves up, astonished,
> Reflexive 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** und schreiten einzeln ins Imaginäre.  
and stride, one by one, into the imaginary.
> Adjective 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.

---

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.