Comments on: If only there were stillness, full, complete. http://thefloatinglibrary.com/2009/12/22/if-only-there-were-stillness-full-complete/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:39:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Southern Comfort http://thefloatinglibrary.com/2009/12/22/if-only-there-were-stillness-full-complete/#comment-1877 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:18:11 +0000 http://thefloatinglibrary.com/?p=2420#comment-1877 I’m not convinced that this translation is particularly true to Rilke’s original. Not sure if this was on purpose, but there are some major changes in meaning taking place. Here’s an alternate English one from Annemarie Kidder that is closer:

If only it were absolutely quiet here at times.
If averageness and happenstance grew silent
and the neighbor’s laugh,
the noise my high-strung senses make
would not prevent my staying awake–

I could in one millenial thought
conceive you in your farthest reach
and could possess you (like a fleeting smile)
and dole you out as gifts with gratitude
to all of life.

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