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Rainer Maria Rilke · Poems

Poem 31 of 51 · Book I

The Tomb of a Young Girl

— ✻ —

We still remember! The same as of yore
All that has happened once again must be.
As grows a lemon-tree upon the shore--
It was like that--your light, small breasts you bore,
And his blood's current coursed like the wild sea.

That god--
who was the wanderer, the slim
Despoiler of fair women; he--the wise,--
But sweet and glowing as your thoughts of him
Who cast a shadow over your young limb
While bending like your arched brows o'er your eyes.

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