Explore "The Knight" by Rainer Maria Rilke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The Knight rides forth in coat of mail / Into the roar of the world. / And here is Life: the vines in the vale / And friend and foe, and the feast in the hall, / And May and the maid, and the glen and the grail; / God's flags afloat on every wall / In a thousand streets unfurled.
Beneath the armour of the Knight / Behind the chain's black links / Death crouches and thinks and thinks: / "When will the sword's blade sharp and bright / Forth from the scabbard spring / And cut the network of the cloak / Enmeshing me ring on ring -- / When will the foe's delivering stroke / Set me free / To dance / And sing? "