<DIV><p>"Through him resounds the music of the universe."?Herman Hesse</p><p> Rainer Maria Rilke is one of the world's best-selling poets, and <I>New Poems</I> contains many of his most iconic pieces. Throughout, Rilke he is obsessed with shapes and different layers of physical containment?from an image held in a panther's eye to a cathedral window. Translator Joseph Cadora has created <I>the</I> definitive English-language version through meticulous faithfulness to Rilke's German and insightful commentary on each of the four hundred-plus poems. As Cadora said in an interview, "I tried to stay true to the vision of Rilke that would invite the reader into <I>his</I> world, not mine." Bilingual, with an introduction by Robert Hass.</p><p><B>The Panther:</B></p><p><I>From endless passing of the bars his gazehas wearied?there is no more it can hold. There seem to be a thousand bars always, and past those thousand bars there is no world.</I></p><p><I>The soft pad of his brawny, rippling paceturns itself in a tightening circle till, like a mighty dance around a tiny space, it centers a numb but still enormous will.</I></p><p><I>But at times the shades of his pupils rise,grasping an image he cannot resist; through his tense, unmoving limbs it flies, and within his heart it ceases to exist.</I></p><p><B>Rainer Maria Rilke</B> (1875?1926) is one of the world's most beloved poets. Working at the cusp of the century, Rilke bridged the gap between traditional and modernist poetics. Born in Prague, Rilke traveled widely across Europe and Egypt, and lived for many years in Paris.</p><p><B>Joseph Cadora</B> is a guitarist, writer, and translator. He lives in Berkeley, California.</p><BR></DIV>