To Say Before Going to Sleep
To Say Before Going to Sleep - meaning Summary
Quiet Companion Before Sleep
Rilke’s poem expresses a longing to soothe and vigilantly accompany a loved one through night. The speaker imagines singing and holding another person while the cold, strange world continues outside. Images of clocks and distant barking mark a border between intimate safety and external unease. The closing lines balance tender attentiveness with release, as the speaker watches a sleeping face and lets go when something stirs in the dark.
Read Complete AnalysesI would like to sing someone to sleep, have someone to sit by and be with. I would like to cradle you and softly sing, be your companion while you sleep or wake. I would like to be the only person in the house who knew: the night outside was cold. And would like to listen to you and outside to the world and to the woods. The clocks are striking, calling to each other, and one can see right to the edge of time. Outside the house a strange man is afoot and a strange dog barks, wakened from his sleep. Beyond that there is silence. My eyes rest upon your face wide-open; and they hold you gently, letting you go when something in the dark begins to move.
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