Sunday, February 22, 2015

Saturday poem: Silentium

by Fyodor Tyutchev, translated by Robert Chandler - The Guardian

There is a whole deep world of being in your soul … from Silentium by Fyodor Tyutchev.
'There is a whole deep world of being in your soul' … from Silentium by Fyodor Tyutchev. Photograph: Fredrik Skold/Alamy
Be silent, hide away and let
your thoughts and longings rise and set
in the deep places of your heart.
Let dreams move silently as stars,
in wonder more than you can tell.
Let them fulfil you – and be still.


What heart can ever speak its mind?
How can some other understand
the hidden pole that turns your life?
A thought, once spoken, is a lie.
Don’t cloud the water in your well;
drink from this wellspring – and be still.


Live in yourself. There is a whole
deep world of being in your soul,
burdened with mystery and thought.
The noise outside will snuff it out.
Day’s clear light can break the spell.
Hear your own singing – and be still.


From The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry, edited by Robert Chandler, Boris Dralyuk and Irina Mashinski, published by Penguin Classics at £12.99. 

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