The world within your fantasy

Visited the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for the first time in ages ...

... always enjoy seeing this portrait of Hugh MacDiarmid, by Sandy Moffat (see extra for some further background/explanation), and it all reminded me of the impact of Russian-thought on MacDiarmid's work.

Thus - and I know I've blipped it before - here's my favourite translation of Fyodor Tyutchev's famous Silentium (which MacDiarmid often quoted) --- it's a truly wonderful invocation to 'Silence and Darkness', the qualities of which seem to completely escape much of modern humankind:


Silentium

Be silent, hidden, and conceal
Whate'er you dream, whate'er you feel.
Oh, let your visions rise and die
Within your heart's unfathomed sky,
Like stars that take night's darkened route.
Admire and scan them and be mute.

The heart was born dumb; who can sense
Its tremors, recondite and tense?
And who can hear its silent cry?
A thought when spoken is a lie.
Uncovered springs men will pollute,
Drink hidden waters, and be mute.

Your art shall inner living be.
The world within your fantasy
A kingdom is that waits its Saul.
The outer din shall still its call,
Day's glare its secret suns confute.
Oh, quaff its singing, and be mute.

---

Fyodor Tyutchev (1803 - 1873)

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