# Eine Welke · A Faded Woman

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

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

**1** Leicht, wie nach ihrem Tode  
Lightly, as if after her death
> Two senses of leicht: leicht means 'light' in weight, and also 'easy, effortless'. It stands first in the line, ahead of the verb trägt in the next line, giving it emphasis. It goes with nach ihrem Tode, 'after her death', which follows.

**2** trägt sie die Handschuh, das Tuch.  
she carries the gloves, the shawl.
> Verb-second word order: trägt is the present tense of tragen, 'to carry, to wear', with the vowel shift a to ä in the third person. Because the sentence opens with the adverb Leicht, the verb comes second and the subject sie follows it. die Handschuh is a shortened plural for die Handschuhe, 'the gloves'.

**3** Ein Duft aus ihrer Kommode  
A scent out of her chest of drawers
> A chest of drawers: die Kommode is a 'chest of drawers, dresser', borrowed from French. der Duft means 'scent, fragrance'; aus takes the dative, so aus ihrer Kommode is 'out of her dresser'.

**4** verdrängte den lieben Geruch,  
drove out the dear, familiar smell,
> Simple past of verdrängen: verdrängte is the simple past of verdrängen, 'to displace, drive out, supplant'. It takes the accusative object den lieben Geruch, 'the dear smell'. lieben is the accusative masculine form of lieb, 'dear, familiar'.


**5** an dem sie sich früher erkannte,  
by which she used to know herself,
> sich erkennen an takes dative: sich erkennen an means 'to recognize oneself by' something, and an governs the dative. dem is a relative pronoun pointing back to den lieben Geruch in the line before. sich is the reflexive object, 'herself'; früher means 'formerly, in earlier days'.

**6** Jetzt fragte sie lange nicht, wer  
Now for a long while she did not ask who
> lange nicht, and a split clause: fragte is the simple past of fragen, 'to ask'. lange nicht means 'not for a long time'. The indirect question opened by wer, 'who', is cut off at the line break and finishes in the next line as wer sie sei, 'who she was'.

**7** sie sei (:eine ferne Verwandte),  
she was (: a distant relative),
> Subjunctive in reported speech: sei is the present subjunctive (Konjunktiv I) of sein, 'to be', the form German uses for reported thought: wer sie sei means 'who she might be'. eine ferne Verwandte, 'a distant relative', is the answer given in parentheses.

**8** und geht in Gedanken umher  
and walks about lost in thought
> Separable verb umhergehen: umhergehen, 'to walk about, wander around', is separable: the prefix umher splits off and lands at the end of the clause, geht ... umher. in Gedanken is a fixed phrase meaning 'in thought, absent-mindedly', with the dative plural of Gedanke, 'thought'.


**9** und sorgt für ein ängstliches Zimmer,  
and tends to an anxious little room,
> sorgen für takes accusative: sorgen für means 'to care for, look after, see to', and takes the accusative: für ein ängstliches Zimmer. ängstlich normally means 'anxious, timid'; here it describes the room, agreeing with Zimmer in the accusative neuter singular.

**10** das sie ordnet und schont,  
which she sets in order and spares,
> schonen: ordnen means 'to put in order, arrange'; schonen means 'to spare, to treat gently'. The relative pronoun das refers back to ein ängstliches Zimmer, 'the room', named in the line before.

**11** weil es vielleicht noch immer  
because perhaps it still
> weil sends the verb to the end: weil, 'because', is a subordinating conjunction, so its verb is held back to the end of the clause, arriving as bewohnt two lines later. es, 'it', refers to the room. noch immer means 'still, even now'.

**12** dasselbe Mädchen bewohnt.  
is lived in by the same girl.
> bewohnen and its subject: bewohnen means 'to inhabit, live in' and takes a direct object, here the room understood from earlier lines. The subject is dasselbe Mädchen, 'the same girl' (neuter das Mädchen), and bewohnt is the verb the weil-clause has been holding back since two lines before.

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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.