German · New Poems

Die Gazelle

The Gazelle

14 lines · 14 notes

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1
Enchanted one: how can the harmony of two
VerzauberteEnchanted oneverzaubert · noun (substantivized adjective), nominative, feminine, singularvocative, direct address
Vocative address to the gazelle, not syntactically part of the sentence that follows.
wiehowwie · adverb, interrogativedepends on kann
kanncankönnen · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
dertheder · determiner, nominative, masculine, singulardepends on Einklang
EinklangharmonyEinklang · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of kann
zweiertwozwei · numeral, genitive, pluraldepends on Worte (next line)
WordA participle used as address Verzauberte is the past participle of verzaubern, 'to enchant, to cast a spell on', used here as a noun in direct address. Its -e ending marks a feminine singular addressee, matching die Gazelle. As a vocative, it stands outside the grammar of the sentence that follows.
2
chosen words ever attain the rhyme
GrammarGenitive phrase split across lines erwählter Worte is genitive plural, 'of chosen words', with erwählter the participle of erwählen, 'to select, choose out', agreeing with Worte, 'words'. The genitive begun with zweier on the line above completes here. The whole phrase serves as the subject of erreichen, 'attain'.
3
that comes and goes in you, as at a signal.
Grammarauf plus accusative for a cue auf ein Zeichen takes the accusative ein because it describes a response to a signal rather than a fixed place, giving 'at a sign, on cue'. The relative pronoun der reaches back to a noun named in the line before this one. kommt und geht describes something that arrives and leaves on that cue.
4
From your brow rise foliage and lyre,
GrammarPreposition aus takes dative aus means 'out of, from' and always governs the dative case, which gives deiner Stirne its ending, 'from your brow'. Laub means 'foliage, leaves' and die Leier means 'the lyre'. Both nouns are nominative because they are the subject of steigen, 'to rise'.
5
and all that is yours moves already in likeness
GrammarA possessive turned into a noun alles Deine means 'everything that is yours, all of you'; the possessive dein is capitalized and inflected like a neuter noun after alles. geht is the main verb, with alles Deine as its subject. im Vergleich, 'in likeness', is dative after the preposition in.
6
through love songs whose words, soft
GrammarGenitive relative pronoun meaning whose deren is the genitive plural of the relative pronoun der, meaning 'whose', agreeing with Liebeslieder, 'love songs'. Liebeslied itself is a compound of Liebe, 'love', and Lied, 'song'. The clause deren opens continues for several more lines before its verb, legen, appears.
7
as rose petals, lay themselves on the eyes
GrammarA dative pronoun and its relative clause dem is a dative pronoun, 'to him, on him', serving as the indirect object of a verb that follows in the next line. der nicht mehr liest is a relative clause describing dem, meaning 'who no longer reads'. Rosenblätter is the plural of Rosenblatt, literally 'rose-leaf', meaning 'rose petal'.
8
of the reader who reads no more, eyes he closes,
GrammarReflexive verb with auf legen sich combines the verb legen, 'to lay', with the reflexive pronoun sich, so sich legen means 'to lay itself down, to settle'. auf die Augen takes the accusative because it marks motion onto a surface, the eyes. die er schließt means 'which he closes'.
9
in order to see you: borne along, as
Grammarum zu plus infinitive um … zu plus an infinitive expresses purpose, 'in order to'. Festhalten, 'to hold fast', is separable, so the zu of the infinitive is inserted between the prefix and the stem, giving festzuhalten. Etwas is the pronoun 'anything' that festhalten takes as its object.
10
if every running were loaded with leaps
GrammarSubjunctive marks a hypothetical comparison als followed by verb second word order signals a hypothetical comparison and calls for the subjunctive; wäre … geladen means 'were loaded'. Der Sprung, plural Sprünge, means 'leap, bound', and der Lauf means 'a run, a course of running'. Mit Sprüngen geladen means 'loaded with leaps'.
11
and yet did not fire off, so long as the neck
GrammarA separable verb in the subjunctive abschießen, 'to fire off, discharge', is a separable verb. Its subjunctive stem schösse stays in place while the prefix ab is parked at the end of the clause, so schösse nur nicht ab means 'only did not go off'.
12
holds its head into listening: as when, bathing
WordInfinitive turned into noun horchen means 'to listen intently, to hearken', turned here into the neuter noun das Horchen, 'the listening'. ins Horchen uses in with the accusative to mean 'into', so das Haupt hält sich ins Horchen means 'holds its head into a state of listening'. das Haupt is an elevated word for 'head', used instead of the everyday Kopf.
13
in the forest, the bathing girl breaks off,
WordA participle turned into a noun die Badende is the present participle of baden, 'to bathe', used as a feminine noun meaning 'the bathing woman'. It is the subject of unterbricht. sich unterbrechen is a reflexive verb meaning 'to interrupt oneself, to break off'.
14
the forest lake in her turned face.
GrammarPast participle used as an adjective gewendet is the past participle of wenden, 'to turn', used here as an adjective and inflected after im, dative. Im gewendeten Gesicht means 'in the turned face'. Der Waldsee, a compound of Wald, 'forest', and See, 'lake', is the noun reflected in that face.

The particulars

The text: Neue Gedichte, Rainer Maria Rilke. New Poems.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
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