# Die Spitze · The Lace

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

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

**1** Menschlichkeit: Namen schwankender Besitze,  
Humanity: names of unsteady possessions,
> A rare plural of an uncountable noun: der Besitz, 'possession, property', is normally uncountable, with no plural. Rilke coins the poetic plural Besitze to mean the several things a life claims. schwankender Besitze is genitive plural, 'of wavering possessions'.

**2** noch unbestätigter Bestand von Glück:  
an as-yet-unconfirmed holding of happiness:
> A noun for stock or holding: der Bestand means a 'stock, holding, inventory', what is on hand and continues to exist. Paired with unbestätigt, 'unconfirmed, not yet verified', happiness is figured as an account whose balance has never been certified.

**3** ist das unmenschlich, daß zu dieser Spitze,  
is it inhuman that into this lace,
> A postponed verb after daß: daß, 'that', opens a subordinate clause, so its finite verb, wurden, is held back to the very end, two lines later. daß is the older spelling of modern dass, kept exactly as Rilke printed it.
> A word for both point and lace: die Spitze has several senses: 'point, tip, peak', and also 'lace', the openwork fabric named in the title. Here it is the literal lace, but the sense of 'point, summit' stays audible in the word.

**4** zu diesem kleinen dichten Spitzenstück  
into this small dense piece of lacework
> Dense, close-woven: dicht means 'dense, close-woven, tightly packed'. Of the lace it describes how closely the threads are worked together. It also sounds close to dichten, 'to compose poetry'.

**5** zwei Augen wurden?–Willst du sie zurück?  
two eyes were turned?–Do you want them back?
> werden zu means to turn into: werden plus zu plus the dative means 'to turn into, become': zu dieser Spitze … wurden zwei Augen means 'two eyes turned into this lace'. wurden is the simple-past plural, closing the long daß-clause begun earlier.


**6** Du Langvergangene und schließlich Blinde,  
You long-departed one and at last gone blind,
> Adjectives used as nouns of address: die Langvergangene, 'the long-past woman', and die Blinde, 'the blind woman', are adjectives turned into nouns; the feminine -e ending marks the addressee as a woman. Rilke speaks directly to the dead lacemaker with Du.

**7** ist deine Seligkeit in diesem Ding,  
is your blessedness within this thing,
> A word for religious blessedness: die Seligkeit means 'blessedness, beatitude, supreme bliss', with a religious overtone of the soul's salvation. The poet asks whether the dead woman's blessedness now resides in the Ding, 'thing', the surviving scrap of lace.

**8** zu welcher hin, wie zwischen Stamm und Rinde,  
toward which, as between trunk and bark,
> Motion toward a goal: The pair zu … hin marks motion toward a goal, 'toward'. welcher is the relative pronoun, feminine dative, agreeing with Seligkeit, so zu welcher hin … ging means 'toward which it went'. The verb ging is held over to a later line.

**9** dein großes Fühlen, kleinverwandelt, ging?  
your great feeling, transformed small, went?
> A coined compound participle: Rilke welds klein, 'small', to verwandelt, 'transformed', into one participle: 'transformed into something small'. The woman's großes Fühlen, 'great feeling', did not vanish but was condensed, like sap between trunk and bark, into the tiny lace.


**10** Durch einen Riß im Schicksal, eine Lücke  
Through a tear in fate, a gap,
> Two nouns for a tear or opening: der Riß is a 'tear, rip, fissure', the older spelling of modern Riss; die Lücke is a 'gap, opening'. The two nouns pair: a flaw torn in the weave of fate is itself an opening.

**11** entzogst du deine Seele deiner Zeit;  
you withdrew your soul from your own time;
> entziehen governing the dative: entziehen, 'to withdraw, take away from', governs a dative for the thing deprived: du entzogst deine Seele deiner Zeit means 'you withdrew your soul from your time'. entzogst is the simple-past du-form.

**12** und sie ist so in diesem lichten Stücke,  
and it is so wholly in this luminous piece
> licht versus leicht: licht means 'bright, luminous, full of light', not to be confused with leicht, 'light in weight, easy'. dieses lichte Stück sees the lace as a piece of pure light; so … daß carries the result into the next line.

**13** daß es mich lächeln macht vor Nützlichkeit.  
that it makes me smile for sheer usefulness.
> machen with a bare infinitive: etwas macht mich lächeln means 'something makes me smile': machen plus a bare infinitive expresses causation. vor Nützlichkeit uses vor plus the dative for cause, 'out of, for sheer usefulness'.


**14** II  
II


**15** Und wenn uns eines Tages dieses Tun  
And if one day this doing of ours
> A genitive marking indefinite time: eines Tages, 'one day, someday', is a genitive used adverbially to mark an indefinite point in time. das Tun is the verb tun, 'to do', turned into a noun, 'our doing'. The wenn-clause it opens runs several lines further.

**16** und was an uns geschieht gering erschiene  
and what happens to us should seem slight
> Subjunctive II for a hypothetical: erschiene is Konjunktiv II, past subjunctive, of erscheinen, 'to appear, seem'. It marks the clause as hypothetical, 'should appear', matching the earlier if. gering is a predicate adjective meaning 'slight, of little worth'.

**17** und uns so fremd, als ob es nicht verdiene,  
and so strange to us, as if it did not merit
> Triggers the subjunctive mood: als ob, 'as though', introduces an unreal comparison and takes the subjunctive: als ob es nicht verdiene means 'as though it did not merit'. verdiene is subjunctive of verdienen, 'to deserve, earn'.

**18** daß wir so mühsam aus den Kinderschuhn  
that we, so laboriously, out of our childhood shoes
> An idiom for outgrowing childhood: die Kinderschuhe, 'children's shoes', stands for earliest childhood; aus den Kinderschuhen wachsen means 'to outgrow one's childhood'. Kinderschuhn is a clipped poetic form of Kinderschuhen, dative plural, trimmed for the meter.

**19** um seinetwillen wachsen–: Ob die Bahn  
should grow up for its sake–: whether the band
> um … willen means for the sake of: The frame um … willen means 'for the sake of'; with a pronoun it fuses into a single word, um seinetwillen, 'for its sake'. Ob, 'whether', then opens the real question that follows. die Bahn is a 'strip, length, band' of cloth.


**20** vergilbter Spitze, diese dichtgefügte  
of yellowed lace, this densely jointed
> Two compound descriptions of the lace: vergilbt, 'yellowed with age', is the past participle of vergilben, used here as an adjective in the genitive, vergilbter Spitze, 'of yellowed lace'. dichtgefügt welds dicht, 'close', to gefügt, 'jointed, fitted'.

**21** blumige Spitzenbahn, dann nicht genügte,  
flowering band of lace, would then not suffice
> genügen means to be enough: genügen means 'to be enough, to suffice' and is intransitive; genügte here continues the hypothetical begun earlier, 'would not suffice'. The infinitive it governs, uns hier zu halten, 'to hold us here', follows in the next line.

**22** uns hier zu halten? Sieh: sie ward getan.  
to hold us here? Look: it was made.
> An archaic passive with ward: ward is the old simple-past of werden, modern wurde, forming a passive with the participle getan, 'done, made': sie ward getan means 'it was made'. The archaic verb gives the plain fact the weight of a finished deed.


**23** Ein Leben ward vielleicht verschmäht, wer weiß?  
A life was perhaps disdained, who knows?
> verschmähen, to scorn or spurn: verschmähen means 'to scorn, spurn, disdain'; verschmäht is its past participle, here passive, ward verschmäht, 'was disdained, was given up'. A whole life may have been refused so this single object could be made.

**24** Ein Glück war da und wurde hingegeben,  
A happiness was there and was given away,
> A separable verb in the passive: hingeben, 'to give away, surrender, devote', is separable: hin- plus geben. In the passive past, wurde hingegeben, the prefix reattaches to the participle. The line contrasts war da, 'was present', with wurde hingegeben, 'was surrendered'.

**25** und endlich wurde doch, um jeden Preis,  
and in the end there was, at any price,

**26** dies Ding daraus, nicht leichter als das Leben  
this thing made from it, no lighter than life
> A pronominal adverb meaning from it: daraus fuses da(r) and aus, 'out of it, from it', referring back to the surrendered life and happiness. wurde … dies Ding daraus means 'this thing came to be out of that'. leicht here means 'light in weight, easy'.

**27** und doch vollendet und so schön, als sei's  
and yet complete and so beautiful, as if it were
> A contracted subjunctive with als: als sei's contracts als es sei: als, 'as though', with Konjunktiv I sei, 'were', of sein. After als German may drop ob and front the verb, giving 'as though it were'. vollendet means 'completed, perfected'.

**28** nicht mehr zu früh, zu lächeln und zu schweben.  
no longer too soon to smile and to float.
> A verb for hovering or floating: schweben means 'to hover, float, be suspended', weightless motion in air. Set against nicht leichter als das Leben two lines above, the close treats the finished lace as no longer too early to smile and drift.

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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.