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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year.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

Title Author Date
Amto remembers Hussein, Aljibbayn 1983 Kamelya Omayma Youssef 02/28/2025
DEAR GABRIELLE, Andrea Abi-Karam 02/27/2025
Symptoms that May Be Signs of Some Things Poupeh Missaghi 02/26/2025
Last Sky World Burn Fargo Nissim Tbakhi 02/25/2025
Spring Rachel Kyung-Joo Shin 02/24/2025
The Rivals Mark Van Doren 02/23/2025
Harlem: The Black City Fenton Johnson 02/22/2025
And So Many Are Dear Diana Marie Delgado 02/21/2025
Institutional(ized) Political Poem, or Poem for Disputed Territories Justin Rovillos Monson 02/20/2025
Solip Cystic Raquel Gutiérrez 02/19/2025

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