Explore "Maiden Melancholy" by Rainer Maria Rilke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A young knight comes into my mind / As from some myth of old.
He came! You felt yourself entwined / As a great storm would round you wind. / He went! A blessing undefined / Seemed left, as when church-bells declined / And left you wrapt in prayer. / You fain would cry aloud -- but bind / Your scarf about you and tear-blind / Weep softly in its fold.
A young knight comes into my mind / Full armored forth to fare.
His smile was luminously kind / Like glint of ivory enshrined, / Like a home longing undivined, / Like Christmas snows where dark ways wind, / Like sea-pearls about turquoise twined, / Like moonlight silver when combined / With a loved book's rare gold.