YOU, GOD, WHO LIVE NEXT DOOR
(DU, NACHTBAR GOTT)

Rainer Maria Rilke, from his collection, Das Stundenbuch(1905), translated by Anita Barrows

You, God, who live next door --

If at times, through the long night, I trouble you
with my urgent knocking--
this is why: I hear you breathe so seldom.
I know you're all alone in that room.
If you should be thirsty, there's no one
to get you a glass of water.
I wait listening, always. Just give me a sign!
I'm right here.

As it happens, the wall between us
is very thin. Why couldn't a cry
from one of us
break it down? It would crumble
easily,

it would barely make a sound.

Auf Deutsch (bald)
Biographical note on Rainer Maria Rilke. (soon)
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