# L'Ange du Méridien · The Angel of the Sundial

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/l-ange-du-meridien. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/l-ange-du-meridien.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Im Sturm, der um die starke Kathedrale  
In the storm that, around the strong cathedral,
> Dative after a location: Im is the contraction of in dem, the dative of der Sturm, 'the storm'. After in, the dative answers 'where', a static location, rather than the accusative 'where to'. Im Sturm means 'in the storm'.

**2** wie ein Verneiner stürzt, der denkt und denkt,  
like a denier, hurls itself down, one who thinks and thinks,
> One who says no: Verneinen means 'to negate, to deny, to say no'; the agent noun der Verneiner means 'the one who denies, the denier'. Der denkt und denkt means 'who thinks and thinks'.

**3** fühlt man sich zärtlicher mit einem Male  
one feels oneself, more tenderly, all at once
> All at once, suddenly: Mit einem Male is a fixed adverbial phrase meaning 'suddenly, all at once', literally 'with one time'. Mal here is the old neuter noun for an instance or moment. Sich fühlen means 'to feel oneself'.

**4** von deinem Lächeln zu dir hingelenkt:  
turned toward you by your smile:
> Separable verb hinlenken: Hinlenken, 'to direct, to steer toward', is separable; its past participle, hingelenkt, ends the clause in a passive construction, man wird … hingelenkt, 'one is steered toward'. The prefix hin marks motion away from the speaker, toward the person addressed.


**5** lächelnder Engel, fühlende Figur,  
smiling angel, feeling figure,
> Present participles used as adjectives: Lächelnd, 'smiling', and fühlend, 'feeling', are present participles, formed by adding -d to the infinitive and then given adjective endings to agree with their nouns, masculine Engel and feminine Figur.

**6** mit einem Mund, gemacht aus hundert Munden:  
with a mouth made out of a hundred mouths:
> An old plural of Mund: Der Mund, 'the mouth', most often forms its plural as Münder. Munden is an older, dialectal plural, kept here for the dative plural -n ending after aus: aus hundert Munden, 'out of a hundred mouths'.

**7** gewahrst du gar nicht, wie dir unsre Stunden  
do you not notice at all how, from you, our hours
> To perceive, become aware: Gewahren is a literary verb meaning 'to perceive, to become aware of, to notice'. Gewahrst du gar nicht means 'do you not notice at all'. The question continues into the following line.
> A dative marking separation: Dir is the dative of du. With abgleiten, 'to slide off', in the next line, it works as a dative of separation: dir … abgleiten means 'slide away from you'. German uses the bare dative here, not a preposition, to mark the person something slips away from.

**8** abgleiten von der vollen Sonnenuhr,  
slip away from the full sundial,


**9** auf der des Tages ganze Zahl zugleich,  
on which the day's whole number, all at once,
> Genitive placed before its noun: Des Tages is the genitive of der Tag, 'the day', placed before the noun it modifies: des Tages ganze Zahl means 'the day's whole number, the entire count of the day'. Ordinary German would instead say die ganze Zahl des Tages.

**10** gleich wirklich, steht in tiefem Gleichgewichte,  
equally real, stands in deep equilibrium,
> Balance, with an old dative ending: Das Gleichgewicht, 'equilibrium, balance', is literally 'equal weight'. In tiefem Gleichgewichte carries the archaic dative -e ending on Gleichgewichte, a poetic form no longer used in modern German.

**11** als wären alle Stunden reif und reich?  
as though all the hours were ripe and rich?
> Unreal comparison with als: Als plus the subjunctive wären, Konjunktiv II of sein, means 'as though', introducing a hypothesis. In this inverted form, als needs no ob and sends the verb wären directly into second position after it.


**12** Was weißt du, Steinerner, von unserm Sein?  
What do you know, stone one, of our being?
> An adjective used as a name: Steinern means 'made of stone, stony'. Capitalized and given a noun ending, Steinerner becomes a form of address, 'you stone one'. German freely turns adjectives into nouns this way.

**13** und hältst du mit noch seligerm Gesichte  
and do you hold, with a still more blessed face,
> A comparative in the dative: Selig means 'blessed, blissful'; seliger is its comparative, 'more blessed', and noch seliger means 'still more blessed'. The dative ending after mit contracts to seligerm, for seligerem, agreeing with Gesichte, itself an old dative -e form of das Gesicht.

**14** vielleicht die Tafel in die Nacht hinein?  
perhaps the tablet out into the night?
> Motion into, reinforced: In die Nacht takes the accusative, marking motion toward, and the trailing hinein, 'into, in toward', reinforces the direction: in die Nacht hinein means 'right on into the night'. The verb is halten, 'to hold'.

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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.