Poem Of The Month
Selected by David Underdown, who also writes the commentary.
Before Summer Rain
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Suddenly from all the green around you,
something – you don’t know what – has disappeared;
you feel it creeping closer to the window,
in total silence. From the nearby wood
you hear the urgent whistling of a plover;
reminding you of someone’s Saint Jerome:
so much solitude and passion come
from that one voice, whose fierce request the downpour
will grant. The walls, with their ancient portraits, slide
away from us, cautiously, as though
they weren’t supposed to hear what we are saying.
And reflected on the faded tapestries now:
the chill, uncertain sunlight of those long
childhood hours when you were so afraid.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
