Silentium!

Poem translated: “Silentium!” by Fyodor Tyutchev

Fyodor Tyutchev was one of the grandees of 19th-century Russian poetry. He was such a great poet that some of his poems spawned stand-alone aphorisms. Arguably the most famous one concerns the mind’s inability to make sense of Russia (umom Rossiyu ne ponyat’). Another holds that every thought becomes a falsehood once it is voiced (mysl’ izrechennaya est’ lozh’). It appears in the poem “Silentium!” (second stanza, fourth line). Tyutchev wrote “Silentium!” in his late twenties, but the depth of the poem, the author’s personal philosophy, belies his youth. While I cannot call it a personal favorite (or Tyutchev a favorite poet), it is a marvelous poem that deserves to be translated. The problem, as with all noteworthy poems, is that there are a number of existing English translations available, including one by Vladimir Nabokov no less. Anyone who wants to offer a new translation must therefore take care not to reinvent the wheel — a risk I was prepared to take when I set out to translate it. Whether I succeeded, I can’t say, but I would like to think that a new translation of any well-known poem will serve to expand our understanding of the work. The original in Russian appears at the very bottom.

Keep silent, be unseen; conceal
The dreams you dream, the things you feel;
Allow them to ascend and fall
Deep in the grottos of your soul,
Like muted stars when night takes wing;
Behold them — and don’t say a thing.

How can the heart reveal itself?
How can a stranger gauge its wealth,
Divine your mind, how you get by?
A thought once spoken is a lie.
Do not disturb your inner spring;
Drink from it — and don’t say a thing.

Reside within your soul or near it —
A world exists inside your spirit
Of thoughts enchanted, of trouvailles,
A world that outer sounds decry,
That daylight won’t allow to sing.
So hear its song — don’t say a thing.

#

Молчи, скрывайся и таи
И чувства и мечты свои —
Пускай в душевной глубине
Встают и заходят оне
Безмолвно, как звезды в ночи, –
Любуйся ими — и молчи.

Как сердцу высказать себя?
Другому как понять тебя?
Поймет ли он, чем ты живешь?
Мысль изреченная есть ложь.
Взрывая, возмутишь ключи, –
Питайся ими — и молчи.

Лишь жить в себе самом умей –
Есть целый мир в душе твоей
Таинственно-волшебных дум;
Их оглушит наружный шум,
Дневные разгонят лучи, –
Внимай их пенью — и молчи!..