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.
“Put Out My Eyes” first appeared in Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry collection Das Stunden-Buch [The Book of Hours], which was first published in 1905. The poem later appeared in Contemporary German Poetry (John Lane / The Bodley Head Ltd., 1923), edited and translated by former Chancellor Babette Deutsch and her husband Avrahm Yarmolinsky. In the introduction to the anthology, Deutsch and Yarmolinsky note, “The spirituality whose pale blossoms we find in [Stephan] George’s work comes to rich fruition in the mysticism of Rainer Maria Rilke. […] For all his heterodoxy, however, the stream of Rilke’s mysticism is bedded in the Gothic tradition. He has the simple piety of a Franciscan monk, coupled with that pleasure in the symbols of Catholic ritual which is reminiscent of Francis Thompson. Indeed, in spite of his aloofness and asceticism, Rilke displays in all his work a mastery of imagery which derives from sensuous appreciations.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Born in Prague on December 4, 1875, Rainer Maria Rilke is recognized by many as a master of verse.