# Kindheit · Childhood

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

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

**1** Es wäre gut viel nachzudenken, um  
It would be good to think much, so as
> The subjunctive of sein for a wish: wäre is Subjunctive II of sein, 'to be', used for a hypothetical, wished-for situation: Es wäre gut means 'It would be good'. The impersonal es fills the subject slot; the real content follows in the infinitive clause viel nachzudenken.
> um opens a purpose clause: um here opens a purpose clause with um … zu plus infinitive, meaning 'in order to'. Rilke strands um at the end of the line and lets its infinitive, auszusagen, land in the next line: read um … etwas auszusagen across the break.

**2** von so Verlornem etwas auszusagen,  
to say something of all that is so lost,
> A syncopated participle used as a noun: Verlornem is the past participle of verlieren, 'to lose', shortened from Verlorenem for the meter and capitalized as a neuter noun, 'that which is lost'. After von it takes the dative ending -em. aussagen means 'to state, to express'.

**3** von jenen langen Kindheit-Nachmittagen,  
of those long childhood afternoons
> Dative plural after von: jenen is the demonstrative jene, 'those', more distant and literary than diese. von governs the dative, so the whole phrase carries dative-plural endings: jenen langen … Nachmittagen, with Nachmittage taking its dative-plural -n.

**4** die so nie wiederkamen–und warum?  
that never so returned again—and why?
> A separable verb in the simple past: wiederkamen is the simple past of the separable verb wiederkommen, 'to come back, return'. In this relative clause the verb sits at the end and its parts close into one word: die … nie wiederkamen means 'that never came back'.


**5** Noch mahnt es uns–: vielleicht in einem Regnen,  
Still it admonishes us—: perhaps in a raining,
> A stronger word than remind: mahnen means 'to admonish, urge, remind insistently', stronger and more solemn than erinnern. The impersonal es, the lost childhood, is the subject; uns is the accusative object: Noch mahnt es uns means 'It still calls us to account'.

**6** aber wir wissen nicht mehr, was das soll;  
but we no longer know what it might mean;
> An idiom asking what something means: was das soll is an idiom, literally 'what that is supposed to be', meaning 'what it means, what it is getting at'. The modal sollen here carries the sense of intention or significance, not obligation. nicht mehr means 'no longer'.

**7** nie wieder war das Leben von Begegnen,  
never again was life so full of meeting,
> An infinitive turned into a noun: Begegnen is the infinitive begegnen, 'to meet, encounter', which normally takes a dative object, turned into a neuter noun, 'meeting'. war das Leben … so voll runs across the line break to von Begegnen, naming what life brimmed with.

**8** von Wiedersehn und Weitergehn so voll  
of seeing-again and walking-onward,
> Two more infinitives turned nouns: wiedersehen, 'to see again', becomes Wiedersehn, and weitergehen, 'to walk on', becomes Weitergehn, both with -en clipped to -n for the meter. Paired, they name a childhood of constant reunion and onward motion.


**9** wie damals, da uns nichts geschah als nur,  
as then, when nothing befell us except
> da meaning when, not there: Here da is the older, literary conjunction meaning 'when, as', not 'there'. geschehen, 'to happen, befall', is impersonal and takes a dative for the one affected: da uns nichts geschah means 'when nothing happened to us'. als nur means 'except only'.

**10** was einem Ding geschieht und einem Tiere:  
what befalls a thing and what befalls a beast:
> Dative objects of geschehen: geschehen again takes a dative for the one something happens to: was einem Ding geschieht means 'what happens to a thing'. einem Tiere is the dative of das Tier, 'animal', with the older, optional dative -e ending kept for the rhyme with Ihre.

**11** da lebten wir, wie Menschliches, das Ihre  
then we lived their life, as humankind does,
> A nominalized possessive pronoun: das Ihre is a nominalized possessive, 'their own, what belongs to them', here their own life or portion. Menschliches is the neuter adjective menschlich used as a noun, 'the human'. We lived proper to a thing and a beast, as the human lives its own.

**12** und wurden bis zum Rande voll Figur.  
and brimmed, up to the very edge, with form.
> An idiom for being completely full: bis zum Rande, 'to the rim, to the brim', is an idiom for being filled completely; der Rand means 'edge, rim'. voll Figur means 'full of figure', of shaped, defined presence: the child fills entirely with its own outline.


**13** Und wurden so vereinsamt wie ein Hirt  
And grew as solitary as a shepherd,
> A participle marking becoming lonely: vereinsamt is the past participle of vereinsamen, 'to grow lonely, become isolated', from einsam, 'lonely'; the ver- prefix marks the process. wurden … vereinsamt means 'grew solitary'. der Hirt is the shepherd, the image of one alone.

**14** und so mit großen Fernen überladen  
and so overburdened with great distances,
> Overloaded with distance: überladen means 'overloaded, overburdened', the past participle of überladen, 'to overload'. die Ferne, plural Fernen, means 'the distance, the far reaches'; the plural makes it 'great distances'. mit … überladen means 'loaded down with'.

**15** und wie von weit berufen und berührt  
and as if called and touched from far away,
> Two participles paired by sound: berufen, from berufen, 'to call, summon', means 'called'; berührt, from berühren, 'to touch', means 'touched'. von weit means 'from far off'. The two participles describe the child as summoned and grazed by something distant.

**16** und langsam wie ein langer neuer Faden  
and slowly, like a long new thread,

**17** in jene Bilderfolgen eingeführt,  
drawn into those sequences of images,
> A separable verb governing in plus accusative: eingeführt is the past participle of the separable verb einführen, 'to lead in, introduce, thread in'. It governs in plus the accusative for the direction: in jene Bilderfolgen eingeführt means 'led into those picture-sequences'.

**18** in welchen nun zu dauern uns verwirrt.  
in which to endure now bewilders us.
> An infinitive phrase as the subject: The infinitive phrase zu dauern, 'to last, to endure', is itself the subject of verwirrt, 'confuses', with uns as its accusative object: 'to endure now bewilders us'. in welchen, dative plural, points back to jene Bilderfolgen.

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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.