“Might be”, “can be” and “could” communicate some of the sense of the word, but “when it reaches us” is a literal translation that has lost the figurative sense of the original. Its normal figurative sense in German is “to concern” or “to effect” someone. The opening line: “Warum, wenn es angeht, die Frist des Daseins hinzubringen” in particular, is difficult, but that does not explain why “angeht” is left untranslated by some. The initial words of the stanza are cryptic, and there are wide divergences in translating them.

Why should we continue to think of life as achievement (“Lorbeer”)? Why should we remain human (or should that be “human”?), when we possess no surety of disposition either in ourselves or with regard to our destiny? Translations include: “Why, when this span of life might be fleeted away / as laurel, a little darker than all / the surrounding green, with tiny waves on the border / of every leaf (like the smile of a wind): – oh, why / have to be human, and, shunning Destiny, / long for Destiny? … (L/S), “Why, if this interval of being can be spent serenely / in the form of a laurel, slightly darker than all / other green, with tiny waves on the edges / of every leaf (like the smile of a breeze) – : why then / have to be human – and escaping from fate, / keep longing for fate? … (M), “Why, when we could live out our span of existence / adequately in the form of a laurel: a little darker than / all other green, with miniature waves round the edges / of every leaf (like a wind, smiling) – why, then, / have to be human – and, bent on avoiding destiny, / long for its presence? … (R/S), “Why, if this span of existence, when it reaches us, can / be brought forward as a laurel, a bit darker than all other / green, with tiny waves on the edges of each / leaf (like the smile of a breeze) –: why then must we be / human beings – and, ever avoiding our destiny, / keep on longing for destiny? … (R). The tone of the stanza is quizzical but insistent, and underscored by the anaphoric use of “warum”.

Varying line lengths and sustained alliteration support a carefully crafted interrogation of a self that is close to (if not quite securely in) the realm of achievement.

Menschliches müssen – und, Schicksal vermeidend, Hinzubringen, als Lorbeer, ein wenig dunkler als allesīlattrand (wie eines Windes Lächeln) –: warum dann Warum, wenn es angeht, also die Frist des Daseins

Duino elegies translation