# In einem fremden Park · In a Strange Park

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/in-einem-fremden-park. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/in-einem-fremden-park.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Zwei Wege sinds. Sie führen keinen hin.  
Two paths there are. They lead no one anywhere.
> A contraction of sind es: sinds contracts sind es, 'are it, there are'. Zwei Wege sinds means 'Two paths there are', an inverted way of saying 'there are two paths', with sind agreeing with the plural Wege even though es is grammatically singular.
> führen... hin, leading nowhere: führen means 'to lead'; hin, the separable prefix meaning 'toward, along', is placed at the end of the clause. keinen hin means 'no one anywhere', so führen keinen hin means 'they lead no one anywhere'.

**2** Doch manchmal, in Gedanken, läßt der eine  
Yet sometimes, lost in thought, the one of them lets
> lassen plus infinitive, letting happen: lassen plus an infinitive means 'to let, allow (something to happen)'. läßt der eine dich weitergehn means 'the one [path] lets you walk on', with weitergehn, 'to walk on', as the infinitive lassen governs.

**3** dich weitergehn. Es ist, als gingst du fehl;  
you walk on. It seems as though you'd lost your way;
> als plus a verb, no dass needed: als, 'as though', can be followed directly by the verb, without dass, when it introduces this kind of comparison: als gingst du fehl means 'as though you had lost your way'. fehl is the detached prefix of fehlgehen, 'to go astray'.

**4** aber auf einmal bist du im Rondel  
but all at once you stand within the roundel
> A garden loanword: das Rondel means a round, enclosed space in a garden, often with a path circling it, a roundel. It is a French loanword in German garden vocabulary, naming the place where the path unexpectedly delivers you.

**5** alleingelassen wieder mit dem Steine  
left alone once more beside the stone
> Left by yourself again: alleingelassen is the past participle of alleinlassen, 'to leave alone', a compound of allein, 'alone', and lassen, 'to leave, let'. It describes the state of being left by yourself, here again, beside the stone.

**6** und wieder auf ihm lesend: Freiherrin  
and reading on it once again: Baroness

**7** Brite Sophie–und wieder mit dem Finger  
Brite Sophie—and once again with a finger

**8** abfühlend die zerfallne Jahreszahl–.  
feeling out the crumbled-away year—.
> Tracing something with the fingers: abfühlen means 'to feel out, trace with the fingers', from fühlen, 'to feel', with the prefix ab-, suggesting a careful, tracing motion. abfühlend is its present participle, describing the ongoing act of tracing the worn inscription.

**9** Warum wird dieses Finden nicht geringer?  
Why does this finding never grow less keen?
> An infinitive turned into a noun: Finden is the infinitive of finden, 'to find', used here as a neuter noun with a capital letter: 'this finding, this act of finding'. German freely turns any infinitive into a noun this way, always neuter and always capitalized.


**10** Was zögerst du ganz wie zum erstenmal  
Why do you hesitate, just as the first time,
> A fixed phrase for the first time: zum erstenmal means 'for the first time', a fixed phrase built from zu dem, 'to the', plus erstenmal, 'first time'. ganz wie zum erstenmal means 'just as though for the first time'.

**11** erwartungsvoll auf diesem Ulmenplatz,  
full of expectancy in this elm-shaded place,
> A compound place name: Ulmenplatz is a compound of Ulme, 'elm', and Platz, 'place, square', naming a spot shaded by elm trees. Compounds like this, noun plus noun, are the ordinary way German names a specific kind of place.

**12** der feucht und dunkel ist und niebetreten?  
damp and dark and never trodden upon?
> A coined compound, never trodden: niebetreten is a coined compound of nie, 'never', and betreten, the past participle of betreten, 'to step on, enter'. Together they mean 'never trodden [on]', describing ground no foot has touched.


**13** Und was verlockt dich für ein Gegensatz,  
And what a contradiction lures you on,
> was... für ein, split across the line: was... für ein is an idiom meaning 'what kind of, what a', with für ein often separated from was by other words, as here: was verlockt dich für ein Gegensatz means 'what a contradiction lures you'.

**14** etwas zu suchen in den sonnigen Beeten,  
to go seeking something in the sunlit beds,
> Dative plural for a location: in takes the dative here because the beds are a location, not a destination reached by motion. den sonnigen Beeten, 'the sunny beds', is dative plural, agreeing in case with in and in number with Beet, 'flower bed'.

**15** als wärs der Name eines Rosenstocks?  
as if it were the name of a rose-bush?
> A contraction, it were: wärs contracts wäre es, 'it were'. als wärs der Name means 'as though it were the name', using Subjunctive II after als for an imagined possibility, here about what draws the speaker's attention.


**16** Was stehst du oft? Was hören deine Ohren?  
Why do you often stop? What do your ears hear?
> Two direct questions: Was stehst du oft? means 'Why do you often stop?', with was used adverbially for 'why' rather than as an object. Was hören deine Ohren? means 'What do your ears hear?', where deine Ohren, 'your ears', plural, is the subject of hören.

**17** Und warum siehst du schließlich, wie verloren,  
And why do you, at last, as though forlorn,
> As though, describing a look: wie verloren means 'as though lost, forlorn', with wie introducing a comparison and verloren, the past participle of verlieren, 'to lose', used as an adjective describing the manner of looking.

**18** die Falter flimmern um den hohen Phlox?  
watch the butterflies flicker round the tall phlox?
> A literary word for butterfly: der Falter means 'butterfly, moth', a more literary word than Schmetterling. Here it is the nominative plural subject of flimmern, 'flicker', in the clause you watch: die Falter flimmern um den hohen Phlox, 'the butterflies flicker around the tall phlox'.

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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.