World Was In The Face Of The Beloved

Rainer Maria Rilke

World was in the face of the beloved--,
but suddenly it poured out and was gone:
world is outside, world can not be grasped.

Why didn't I, from the full, beloved face
as I raised it to my lips, why didn't I drink
world, so near that I couldn't almost taste it?

Ah, I drank. Insatiably I drank.
But I was filled up also, with too much
world, and, drinking, I myself ran over.

Next 10 Poems

• Rainer Maria Rilke : You Who Never Arrived
• Rainer Maria Rilke : You, You Only, Exist
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : A Song At Shannon's
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : Aaron Stark
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : Afterthoughts
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : Alma Mater
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : Amaryllis
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : An Evangelist's Wife
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : An Island
• Edwin Arlington Robinson : Another Dark Lady

Previous 10 Poems

• Rainer Maria Rilke : Woman In Love
• Rainer Maria Rilke : What Survives
• Rainer Maria Rilke : What Fields Are As Fragrant As Your Hands?
• Rainer Maria Rilke : What Birds Plunge Through Is Not The Intimate Space
• Rainer Maria Rilke : Water Lily
• Rainer Maria Rilke : Venetian Morning
• Rainer Maria Rilke : To Say Before Going To Sleep
• Rainer Maria Rilke : To Music
• Rainer Maria Rilke : To Lou Andreas-salome
• Rainer Maria Rilke : The Wait