Duineser Elegien, Die Erste Elegie, R. M.Rilke

"WER, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel
Ordnungen? und gesetzt selbst, es nähme
einer mich plötzlich ans Herz: ich verginge von seinem
stärkeren Dasein. Denn das Schöne ist nichts
als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen,
und wir bewundern es so, weil es gelassen verschmäht,
uns zu zerstören. Ein jeder Engel ist schrecklich.
    Und so verhalt ich mich denn und verschlucke den Lockruf
dunkelen Schluchzens. Ach, wen vermögen
wir denn zu brauchen? Engel nicht, Menschen nicht,
und die findigen Tiere merken es schon,
daß wir nicht sehr verläßlich zu Haus sind
in der gedeuteten Welt."

Duineser Elegien, R. M. Rilke
Erste Elegie

THE FIRST ELEGY

Who, if I cried, would hear me, of the angelic 

orders? or even supposing that one should suddenly

carry me to his heart – I should perish under the pressure

of his stronger nature. For beauty is only a step

removed from a burning terror we barely sustain,

and we worship it for the graceful sublimity

with which it disdains to consume us. Each angel burns.

And so I hold back, and swallow down the yearning,

the dark call heard in the cave of the heart. Alas,

who then can serve our need? Not angels, not human

beings; and even the sly beasts begin to perceive

that we do not feel too much at home

in our interpreted world

(translation: John Walterfield)

Duino Elegies
by Rainer Maria Rilke

Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1992
Translated by Stephen Mitchell

The First Elegy
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?

and even if one of them pressed me suddenly against his heart:
I would be consumed in that overwhelming existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure,

and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Every angel is terrifying.
And so I hold myself back and swallow the call-note of my dark sobbing.
Ah, whom can we ever turn to in our need?
Not angels, not humans, and already the knowing animals are aware

that we are not really at home in our interpreted world.