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Poem-a-day

Put Out My Eyes

translated from the German by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky

Put out my eyes: and I shall see you, too,
seal up my ears: and I shall hear you still,
and without feet I yet can go to you, 
and with no mouth, adjure you and I will. 
Break off my arms, and I shall hold you fast
even with my heart, as though it were a hand; 
arrest my heart, my brain to throb is sworn, 
and if into my brain you fling a brand, 
yet on my very blood you will be borne.

 


 

Lösch mir die Augen aus

 

Lösch mir die Augen aus: ich kann dich sehn,
wirf mir die Ohren zu: ich kann dich hören, 
und ohne Füße kann ich zu dir gehn, 
und ohne Mund noch kann ich dich beschwören.
Brich mir die Arme ab, ich fasse dich 
mit meinem Herzen wie mit einer Hand,
halt mir das Herz zu, und mein Hirn wird schlagen, 
und wirfst du in mein Hirn den Brand, 
so werd ich dich auf meinem Blute tragen.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on July 20, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Khadijah Queen is the Guest Editor of July. Read or listen to a Q&A with Queen about her curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

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Departure Chaman Lall 01/22/2022
It’s Not Really about Them, It’s about Us Safia Jama 01/21/2022
January 20, 2021 Jared Harél 01/20/2022
Insurrecto Chris Santiago 01/19/2022
[Oye! This is an apartment building ode.] Dimitri Reyes 01/18/2022
Suspending Disbelief While Brown, Part II Hossannah Asuncion 01/17/2022
The Song of the Smoke W. E. B. Du Bois 01/16/2022
A Reverie Mary Weston Fordham 01/15/2022
Aubade with Edits F. Douglas Brown 01/14/2022
Self-lit KC Trommer 01/13/2022

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