ARCHÄISCHER TORSO APOLLOS
Rainer Maria Rilke Wir kannten nicht sein unerhörtes Haupt, darin die Augenäpfel reiften. Aber sein Torso glüht noch wie ein Kandelaber, in dem sein Schauen, nur zurückgeschraubt, sich hält und glänzt. Sonst könnte nicht der Bug der Brust dich blenden, und im leisen Drehen der Lenden könnte nicht ein Lächeln gehen zu jener Mitte, die die Zeugung trug. Sonst stünde dieser Stein entstellt und kurz unter der Schultern durchsichtigem Sturz und flimmerte nicht so wie Raubtierfelle und bräche nicht aus allen seinen Rändern aus wie ein Stern: denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern. ______________________________________ ARCHAIC TORSO OF APOLLO translated by Stephen Mitchell We cannot know his legendary head with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso is still suffused with brilliance from inside, like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low, gleams in all its power. Otherwise the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could a smile run through the placid hips and thighs to that dark center where procreation flared. Otherwise this stone would seem defaced beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur: would not, from all the borders of itself, burst like a star: for here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life. _____________________________________ ARCHAIC TORSO OF APOLLO translated by Edward Snow We never knew his head and all the light that ripened in his fabled eyes. But his torso still glows like a gas lamp dimmed in which his gaze, lit long ago, holds fast and shines. Otherwise the surge of the breast could not blind you, nor a smile run through the slight twist of the loins toward that center where procreation thrived. Otherwise this stone would stand deformed and curt under the shoulders' transparent plunge and not glisten just like wild beasts' fur and not burst forth from all its contours like a star: for there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life. _____________________________________ ARCHAIC TORSO OF APOLLO translated by A. Z. Foreman We never knew the epic head of sight wherein the round eyes ripened. Even so his torso still glows like a gas streetlight in which his gaze has merely been turned low, and holds agleam. If not, then the breast's bare curve could not dazzle you, nor could the loin swerve a smile down toward that center where begetting was begotten at the groin. If not, this stone would stand cut short with strife and maimed beneath the shoulders’ clear cut case, and would not shimmer like a wild beast's fur, and would not burst forth like a blazing star from all its boundaries: for there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life. _____________________________________ APOLLO'S ARCHAIC TORSO translated by Sarah Stutt We cannot know his incredible head, where the eyes ripened like apples, yet his torso still glows like a candelabrum, from which his gaze, however dimmed, still persists and gleams. If this were not so, the bow of his breast could not blind you, nor could a smile, steered by the gentle curve of his loins, glide to the centre of procreation. And this stone would seem disfigured and stunted, the shoulders descending into nothing, unable to glisten like a predator's pelt, or burst out from its confines and radiate like a star: for there is no angle from which it cannot see you. You have to change your life. ____________________________________ (Looser translation by Stutt) We will never know his magnificent head, the ebb and flow of his youth - an orchard of ripening fruit, yet his fire has not diminished, incandescent light radiates from his torso, and in the curve of his loins, a smile turns towards the centre of creation. Or else this body would be disfigured - a lump of rock with no vision, unable to glisten like a lion's mane. It would not burst out of its skin like a star: for its searing gaze penetrates your soul, the way you live. |
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