Five translations of Rilke's "The Panther"
From many more compiled by Brian Jones.
Original:
Original:
Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß.Edward Snow:
Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
und auf den Fluren laß die Winde los.
His gaze has from the passing of the barsGuntram Deichsel:
grown so tired, that it holds nothing anymore.
It seems to him there are a thousand bars
and behind a thousand bars no world.
His eyes became from passing barsWalter Arndt:
so weary, that they hold no sight.
He feels there were a thousand bars,
behind the thousand bars no light.
His gaze has been so worn by the processionGerald Duffy:
Of bars that it no longer makes a bond.
Around, a thousand bars seem to be flashing,
And in their flashing show no world beyond.
The pacing past the bars, the steady stareWinslow Shea:
A tiredness grown so nothing holds him here
Of a thousand iron bars he seems aware
A thousand bars, no world beyond this sphere.
His gaze, so worn with passing through the bars,
holds nothing now, not even its own stare.
There is, it seems to him, a thousand bars,
and past the thousand bars, no world out there.
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