This piece is a potent reminder that people may respond with great bitterness, rage, and self-pity to disability or disease. They may not behave gracefully or be grateful to those who are caring for them. "The Blindman’s Song" is one of a group of Rilke poems written in the voices of sociomedical outcasts ["idiot", orphan, suicide, leper, dwarf (see The Song the Dwarf Sings, annotated in this database)].

It is worth noting that the translation in the alternate source listed here is more literal and the difference highlights some interesting ambiguities about poetic language: "every day I despair" becomes "something heavy every day"; "die Frau" is translated as "woman" instead of "wife", both meanings being literally correct, but having quite different significance in the context of the poem.