Autumn
Autumn - meaning Summary
Transience Held by the Divine
Rilke's "Autumn" meditates on universal decay and human mortality through the image of falling leaves and a descending Earth. The poem moves from natural loss to personal finitude—hands that must fall—yet it ends by invoking a gentle, sustaining presence that cradles this collapse. It frames transience not as nihilistic void but as part of a larger, tender order that preserves meaning amid inevitable decline.
Read Complete AnalysesThe leaves fall, fall as from far, Like distant gardens withered in the heavens; They fall with slow and lingering descent. And in the nights the heavy Earth, too, falls From out the stars into the Solitude. Thus all doth fall. This hand of mine must fall And lo! the other one:—it is the law. But there is One who holds this falling Infinitely softly in His hands.
Translated by Jessie Lamont
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