Rhyme scheme is ABBA CDCD EFE GFG. Meter is primarily dactylic.
Euch,[1] die ihr[2] nie mein Gefühl verließt,
You, which have never left my feelings,
grüß ich, antikische Sarkophage,[3]
you I greet, antique sarcophagi,
die das fröhliche Wasser römischer Tage[4]
through which the merry water of Roman days
als ein wandelndes Lied durchfließt.
flows like a varying song.
Oder jene[5] so offenen, wie das Aug
Or those so open, as the eye
eines frohen erwachenden Hirten,[6]
0f a happily awakening shepherd,
-- innen voll Stille und Bienensaug--[7]
--inwardly full of stillness and dead nettle --
denen entzückte Falter[8] entschwirrten;
[9]
from whom ecstatic moths fluttered away;
alle, die man dem Zweifel entreißt,[10]
all of those, from whom doubt is ripped away,,
grüß ich, die wiedergeöffneten Munde,[11]
I greet, the once again opened mouths,
die schon wußten, was schweigen heißt.
who already knew, what silence means.
Wissen wirs,[12] Freunde, wissen wirs nicht?
Do we know it, friends, do we not know it?
Beides bildet die zögernde Stunde
Both of these form the hesitating hour
in dem menschlichen Angesicht.
in the human countenance.
Euch, die ihr nie mein Gefühl verließt,
You, that evermore in my senses stay,
grüß ich, antikische Sarkophage,
you I greet, antique sarcophagi,
die das fröhliche Wasser römischer Tage
through which merry water of an aery Roman day
als ein wandelndes Lied durchfließt.
flows as an ever transforming melody.
Oder jene so offenen, wie das Aug
Or those as open, as the eye so bright
eines frohen erwachenden Hirten,
of a shepherd who joyfully does rise ,
-- innen voll Stille und Bienensaug --
-- within so full of stillness and bee nettle white--
denen entzückte Falter entschwirrten;
from which swirled ecstatic butterflies;
alle, die man dem Zweifel entreißt,
all those, who from doubt have been freed,
grüß ich, die wiedergeöffneten Munde,
I greet, their opened mouths no longer resistant,
die schon wußten, was schweigen heißt.
who already knew, where silence does lead.
Wissen wirs, Freunde, wissen wirs nicht?
Are we apace of it, friends, are we not apace?
Beides bildet die zögernde Stunde
Both of these form the hesistant instant
in dem menschlichen Angesicht.
in humankinds ever-changing face.
[1] Euch: Anticipatory direct object of "grüß ich." The use of the intimate plural form "Euch" is a Personification of the inanimate plural "Sarkophage" used as an Apostrophe. Apostrophe: A figure of speech which consists of addressing an absent or dead person, a thing, or an abstract idea as if it were alive and present.
[2] die ihr: The German form of "who that" or "which that" (in a personification) when used in an Apostrophe. Apostrophe: A figure of speech which consists of addressing an absent or dead person, a thing, or an abstract idea as if it were alive and present.
[3] antikische Sarkophage: The (sic) antecedent of "Euch."
[4] das fröhliche Wasser römischer Tage: An example of "Binnenreim" in German or in English "interior Rhyme." It is doubly interior rhyme, because only the interior elements "isch" rhyme. Could perhaps more properly be called an assonance. Both words "fröhliche" and "römischer" have the same dactylic rhythme accenting the Binnenreim/Assonance. Binnenreim: Reim innerhalb der Verszeile. Assonance: Resemblance of sound, especially of the vowel sounds in words,
[5] jene: Refers back to the sarcophagi which have been opened.
[6] das Aug/eines frohen erwachenden Hirten: To rhyme with "Bienensaug" the final "e" of "Auge" has been dropped which is an Apocope. The opened sarcaphogi are compared to the eye of a happily awakening shephard creating the type of often far-fetched simile for which Rilke is famous. Gottfried Benn described Rilke as writing predominately "Wie-Gedichte." The opened by time sarcaphogi being similar to an opening eye giving the dead bodies renewed sight is appropriate; however, that the eye belong to a shepherd is perhaps determined more by the rhyme with "entschwirrten" than by the comparison. A shepherd does spend the whole summer alone tending his sheep, thus being cut off from the normal living world somewhat similar to the dead bodies in their sarcophogi. The reason for the adverb "froh" will become clear in the following two lines. Apocope: The loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, as in Modern English "sing" from Middle English "singen." Simile: An explicit comparison using "like" or "as."
[7] Bienensaug: While rhyming with "Aug" the word in question is "Saug" which comes from the verb "saugen" meaning to suck. In this case the bees are the ones feeding on the plant "Bienensaug" which in English is the white nettle, dead white nettle or bee nettle. In folklore a distillation of the flowers is reputed "to make the heart merry, to make a good color in the face, and to make the vital spirits more fresh and lively. (Mrs. M. Grieve (1931). "NETTLE, WHITE DEAD." A Modern Herbal. Botanical.com.) These plants are called Bienensaug, because bumble-bees love to suck out their nectar, while honey bees, lacking long enough reach, cannot feed on them. Thus the common name is a misnomer, because bumble-bees in German are "Hummel," so it should be "Hummelnsaug."
[8] entzückte Falter: The butterflies are also attracted to flowers and are enraptured because of the earlier mentioned folklorish attribution of merriment to the dead nettles.
[9] entschwirrten: One of only two verbs in the simple past in the Sonnet. (the other in verse 11 is a definitely an act in the past (die schon wußten). Since the second quartet is parallel to the first being introduced with or (oder) and is implicitely also being greeted by the poet, it should also be in the historical present. The possibly reimbedingt "Hirten" seems to have also led to a anachronism in its rhyme "entschwirrten."
[10] entreißt: The verb entreißen falls in the category of ent- verbs which take the dative.
[11] die wiedergeöffneten Munde: Implicit comparison to the sarcophagi which have been opened after centuries of silence.
[12] wirs: Synaloepha for "wir es." Rilke generally does not use the apostrophe. The main question about this poem is what the "es" refers to. The most this sonnet provides is the knowledge that sarcaphogi receive from surviving centuries with the dead and then being reopened and providing renewed life for flowering plants and insects feeding upon them. Synaloepha: Omission of a vowel to contract two words into one such as "don't," "it's.