Evening
Evening - meaning Summary
Evening's Solitary Wakefulness
Rilke's short lyric contrasts outer stillness with inner vigilance. While the fields and harbour settle into night, the speaker's heart remains awake, registering the evening's slow, personified movements. Night becomes a protective presence that wanders over the land, and the moon appears as a white lily held like a delicate offering. The poem quietly frames solitude and attentive awareness as responses to the coming darkness.
Read Complete AnalysesThe bleak fields are asleep, My heart alone wakes; The evening in the harbour Down his red sails takes. Night, guardian of dreams, Now wanders through the land; The moon, a lily white, Blossoms within her hand.
Translated by Jessie Lamont
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