# Nächtliche Fahrt · Night Drive

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

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

**1** Damals als wir mit den glatten Trabern  
Back then, when we, with the sleek trotters
> Adverb and conjunction open the poem: damals means 'then, back then'; the subordinating conjunction als introduces a single completed event in the past, 'when'. The whole poem hangs on this opening clause, whose main verb does not arrive until much later.
> A word for trotting horses: A Traber is a trotting horse, bred and driven to trot rather than gallop, pulling a light carriage. mit den glatten Trabern means 'with the sleek trotters', dative plural after mit, which always takes the dative.

**2** (schwarzen, aus dem Orloffschen Gestüt)–,  
(black ones, from the Orlov stud)—,
> A word for a horse-breeding farm: Gestüt means 'stud, stud farm', an establishment that breeds horses. aus dem Orloffschen Gestüt means 'from the Orlov stud', the dative after aus, 'out of, from'.

**3** während hinter hohen Kandelabern  
while behind tall candelabra
> Subordinator sends verb far ahead: The subordinating conjunction während, 'while', opens a parallel clause and sends its verb to the very end, here lagen in the next line. Read the whole span as one unit: 'while behind tall candelabra the city's night-fronts lay'.

**4** Stadtnachtfronten lagen, angefrüht  
the city's night-fronts lay, made early,
> A coined three-part compound: Stadtnachtfronten stacks Stadt, 'city', Nacht, 'night', and Fronten, 'building fronts', into one word, 'the night-time fronts of the city'. German lets a poet build such a noun on the spot; English needs a phrase to unpack it.
> An invented past participle: angefrüht is a Rilke invention, a past participle built as though from a verb anfrühen, from früh, 'early': the fronts have been 'made early, brought on too soon', a pale light of a northern white night.

**5** stumm und keiner Stunde mehr gemäß–,  
mute and answering to no hour anymore—,
> Gemäß governs the dative: gemäß, 'in accordance with, conforming to', takes the dative and usually follows its noun, keiner Stunde gemäß, 'conforming to no hour'. The façades belong to no hour of the clock, a sign that time is breaking down.

**6** fuhren, nein: vergingen oder flogen  
we drove, no: passed away or flew
> The verb the opening clause waited for: fuhren, 'we drove', is finally the finite verb of the als wir clause begun in line one; the long parenthesis is over. The poet then corrects himself with nein, 'no', replacing 'drove' with vergingen oder flogen, 'passed away or flew'.
> A verb for passing away: vergehen means 'to pass, elapse, fade, perish'; its past tense is vergingen. The word recurs through the poem, describing statues and finally the city itself, making 'passing away' the drive's true subject.

**7** und um lastende Paläste bogen  
and rounded the looming palaces
> A verb for rounding a corner: biegen means 'to bend, turn'; with um it means 'to round a corner or building'. Its past tense is bogen. lastend, 'looming', is the present participle of lasten, 'to weigh down'.

**8** in das Wehn der Newa-Quais,  
into the wind off the Neva quays,
> A noun made from a verb: das Wehn, also spelled Wehen, is a noun made from wehen, 'to blow, waft': 'the blowing, the breath of wind'. in das Wehn der Newa-Quais means 'into the wind off the Neva quays', the embankments of St Petersburg.


**9** hingerissen durch das wache Nachten,  
swept away through the waking night-ness,
> One participle, two meanings: hingerissen is the past participle of the separable verb hinreißen, literally 'to sweep away', figuratively 'to enrapture, carry away'. Both senses apply, the riders physically swept along and inwardly enraptured by the night.
> A coined verbal noun: Rilke turns the noun Nacht, 'night', into a verbal noun, das Nachten, 'the nighting', night treated as an ongoing process rather than a thing. das wache Nachten means 'the waking nighting', a night that is somehow alert.

**10** das nicht Himmel und nicht Erde hat,–  
that has neither sky nor earth,—
> Doubled nicht for neither nor: Doubled nicht works like English 'neither nor', nicht Himmel und nicht Erde, 'neither sky nor earth'. The relative clause das hat refers back to das Nachten, a night holding neither heaven above nor ground below.

**11** als das Drängende von unbewachten  
as the urging thing from unwatched
> Participle turned into a noun: drängend, 'pressing, urging', is a present participle used here as a neuter noun, das Drängende, 'the urging thing'. German freely nominalizes participles this way; als das Drängende aufstieg means 'as the urging thing rose up'.

**12** Gärten gärend aus dem Ljetnij-Ssad  
gardens, fermenting, up from the Letny Sad
> Gären means to ferment: gärend is the present participle of gären, 'to ferment, seethe, work'. The pairing Gärten gärend, 'gardens fermenting', is a deliberate echo between the two words, letting the verb seem to grow out of the noun.

**13** aufstieg, während seine Steinfiguren  
rose up, while its stone figures
> Past tense of a separable verb: aufstieg is the past tense of the separable verb aufsteigen, 'to rise, climb, ascend'. In this subordinate als-clause the whole verb stands together at the end, completing als das Drängende aufstieg, 'as the urging thing rose up'.

**14** schwindend mit ohnmächtigen Konturen  
dwindling, with powerless contours,
> A verb for fading away: schwindend is the present participle of schwinden, 'to dwindle, vanish, waste away'. mit ohnmächtigen Konturen means 'with powerless contours': ohnmächtig means both 'unconscious, fainting' and 'powerless'.

**15** hinter uns vergingen, wie wir fuhren–:  
passed away behind us, as we drove—:
> Wie used to mean while: Here wie works temporally, 'as, while', so wie wir fuhren means 'as we drove'. The verb fuhren again closes its clause. The colon and dash open the way to the poem's long-delayed main statement.


**16** damals hörte diese Stadt  
back then this city ceased
> The main clause finally arrives: After all the suspended als, während, and wie clauses, the grammatical spine lands here. damals picks up the poem's first word; hörte diese Stadt auf zu sein means 'this city ceased to be'.

**17** auf zu sein. Auf einmal gab sie zu,  
to be. All at once it admitted
> Aufhören zu plus infinitive: aufhören, 'to stop, cease', takes zu plus an infinitive, aufhören zu sein, 'to cease to be'. The prefix separated in the line before rejoins here. Then Auf einmal, 'all at once', and zugeben, 'to admit': gab sie zu, 'it admitted'.

**18** daß sie niemals war, um nichts als Ruh  
that it never was, pleading for nothing
> Daß introduces the confession: daß, spelled with ß as Rilke wrote it, today dass, means 'that', and introduces what the city admits, sending its verb to the end, daß sie niemals war, 'that it never was'. um nichts als Ruh means 'for nothing but rest'.

**19** flehend; wie ein Irrer, dem das Wirrn  
but rest; like a madman whom the tangle
> A verb for pleading: flehend is the present participle of flehen, 'to beg, implore, plead', which takes um for what is begged, um nichts als Ruh flehend, 'pleading for nothing but rest'. The city begs only to be let stop existing.
> A madman and a coined noun: ein Irrer means 'a madman, a deranged person', from irre, 'astray, insane'. das Wirrn is a Rilke coinage for the tangle or confusion, related to wirr, 'confused'. The relative dem is dative, 'the madman for whom the tangle'.

**20** plötzlich sich entwirrt, das ihn verriet,  
that betrayed him suddenly unravels,
> Reflexive verb, to unravel: sich entwirren, 'to disentangle itself', is the reflexive of entwirren. das Wirrn entwirrt sich plötzlich means 'the tangle suddenly untangles'. das ihn verriet, 'that betrayed him', describes the confusion that had given the madman away.


**21** und der einen jahrelangen kranken  
and who feels a years-long, sick,
> Relative pronoun tracking the madman: der, 'who', still refers to ein Irrer, the madman. The accusative object einen jahrelangen kranken Gedanken, 'a years-long, sick thought', stretches across three lines before its verbs, fallen fühlt, arrive at the end.

**22** gar nicht zu verwandelnden Gedanken,  
wholly unchangeable thought,
> A gerundive expressing possibility: der zu verwandelnde Gedanke means 'the thought to be changed'; zu plus a declined present participle expresses obligation or possibility. With gar nicht it negates fully, 'a thought not at all to be changed'.
> A recurring word for change: verwandeln means 'to transform, change, transmute', a recurring Rilke word. Here the fixed delusion is gar nicht zu verwandeln, incapable of being transformed, until it simply drops away like the city's existence.

**23** den er nie mehr denken muß: Granit–  
that he need never think again: granite—
> Never again, plus a colon: nie mehr means 'never again, no more'. The relative clause den er nie mehr denken muß means 'that he need never think again'. After the colon, Granit, 'granite', names what the released thought has become.

**24** aus dem leeren schwankenden Gehirn  
from the empty, swaying brain
> Schwanken means to sway: schwankend is the present participle of schwanken, 'to sway, totter, waver'. aus dem leeren schwankenden Gehirn means 'out of the empty, swaying brain', dative after aus. The petrified thought drops from the reeling mind.

**25** fallen fühlt, bis man ihn nicht mehr sieht.  
fall, until one sees it no more.
> Perception verb with bare infinitive: Verbs of perception like fühlen, 'to feel', take a bare infinitive without zu, fühlt fallen, 'feels it fall'. These are the long-awaited verbs of the final sentence. bis man ihn nicht mehr sieht means 'until one sees it no more'.

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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.