《豹》是里爾克最為著名的詠物名篇。這首詩作於1902年11月，里爾克因為生活的艱難，一直處於困惑之中。生活與藝術的矛盾，在貧困的詩人那裡來得更為直接和突出。這是極難兩全的問題，藝術要求詩人更為徹底更為純粹，但生活的大手在你拓進的途中將你無情地拖入生存所必需的柴米油鹽之中。
the panther 豹
his vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. it seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
隔著不時掠過的鐵欄，他的目光
已變得如此疲倦，再無法
承受哪怕一眼。似乎面前
有千條欄杆;而欄杆之後別無他物。
as he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
他強韌的.腳步靈巧地迴旋，
在狹小的空間踱步不止，
彷彿某種祭祀之舞圍繞著一箇中心，
在中心一個偉大的意志眩暈。
only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly—. an image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
只有時眼簾無聲地撩起——
一幅影象從瞳孔浸入，
穿過凝神僵立的軀體
投入心靈，又最終化為烏有。
