Memories of a Childhood

The darkness hung like richness in the room
    When like a dream the mother entered there
    And then a glass's tinkle stirred the air
    Near where a boy sat in the silent gloom.

    The room betrayed the mother--so she felt--
    She kissed her boy and questioned "Are you here?"
    And with a gesture that he held most dear
    Down for a moment by his side she knelt.

    Toward the piano they both shyly glanced
    For she would sing to him on many a night,
    And the child seated in the fading light
    Would listen strangely as if half entranced,

    His large eyes fastened with a quiet glow
    Upon the hand which by her ring seemed bent
    And slowly wandering o'er the white keys went
    Moving as though against a drift of snow.

        Rainer Maria Rilke
        (tr. Jessie Lamont)