Rainer Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926) was a Bohemian–Austrian poet and art critic. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language. His haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety: themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets.

He wrote in both verse and a highly lyrical prose. Among English-language readers, his best-known work is the Duino Elegies; his two most famous prose works are the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He also wrote more than 400 poems in French, dedicated to his homeland of choice, the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

I have read a translation version of his “Autumn Day” by BeiDao, which impress me deeply.

Autumn Day

LORD, it’s time. The summer overwhelmed us.

Allow your shadow fall on the sundials

and let the winds roam all over the fields.

Command the last fruits: they should fully ripen,

and give them two more southern sunny days,

to reach perfection gathering

the last nectar into the heavy grapes.

Who hasn't built his home yet, he will never build it.

Who maybe alone now, by himself he will be

without sleep, and reading, on long letters musing,

and aimlessly walking on paths nowhere leading

when in withered gardens the dead leaves are dancing.

秋日

主呵，是时候了。夏天盛极一时。

把你的阴影置于日晷上，

让风吹过牧场。

让枝头最后的果实饱满；

再给两天南方的好天气，

催它们成熟，把

最后的甘甜压进浓酒。

谁此时没有房子，就不必建造，

谁此时孤独，就永远孤独，

就醒来，读书，写长长的信，

在林荫路上不停地

徘徊，落叶纷飞。