Silentium!

Keep silent, to yourself, and hide
your dreams and feelings deep inside —
Within your center let them rise
and set, like stars in crystal skies.
Don’t say a word, and let them be —
enjoy their beauty — silently.

How can the haze of words impart
what moves your mind, what stirs your heart?
Will someone know you if they try?
A thought once uttered is a lie.
Preserve the source’s clarity —
drink from its waters — silently.

Look in yourself, and there begin
to find a hidden world within.
The brightness from without you blurs
thoughts’ mystic figures, and obscures
their glowing, wordless melody —
so listen to them — silently!

Fyodor Tyutchev, 1830
trans. by A. Brož