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“Before us great Death stands …” by
Rainer Maria Rilke
🇦🇹
(
4 Dec 1875
–
29 Dec 1926
)
Translated from the German by Jessie Lemont
Before us great Death stands
Our fate held close within his quiet hands.
When with proud joy we lift Life’s red wine
To drink deep of the mystic shining cup
And ecstasy through all our being leaps—
Death bows his head and weeps.