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Marina Tsvetaeva, Her Life in Poems - Rolf Gross

Marina Tsvetaeva, Her Life in Poems - Rolf Gross

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epigram.<br />

And now - from you to me:<br />

Parfois elle paraînt attendrie<br />

Qu'on l'écoute si bien, -<br />

Alois elle montre sa vie<br />

Et ne dit plus rien." (You, nature!)<br />

***<br />

[At times she seems fondly aglow<br />

to be heard so well, -<br />

then she lets her life show<br />

and ceases to tell.]<br />

Still, you are a poet, too, Ra<strong>in</strong>er, and from poets one expects de l'<strong>in</strong>édit. Therefore a<br />

big letter [from you], quick, for me alone, or I'm go<strong>in</strong>g to make myself out more stupid<br />

than I am and be "offended," "lacerated <strong>in</strong> my f<strong>in</strong>est feel<strong>in</strong>gs," etc., whereupon you'll write<br />

to me after all (for the sake of peace and quiet! and because you are good!).<br />

May I kiss you It's no more than embrac<strong>in</strong>g, surely, and embrac<strong>in</strong>g without kiss<strong>in</strong>g is<br />

practically impossible, isn't it<br />

<strong>Mar<strong>in</strong>a</strong><br />

Rilke felt so lonely at Muzot that he moved to a Hotel <strong>in</strong> Ragaz, where his friends could<br />

visit him. He hid his ailments – still undiagnosed – from everybody and himself. His last<br />

letters to <strong>Tsvetaeva</strong> were written from there.<br />

Rilke to <strong>Tsvetaeva</strong><br />

[PTR p.247-253]<br />

Hotel Hof-Ragaz, Ragaz (Suisse)<br />

July 28, 1926<br />

You wonderful <strong>Mar<strong>in</strong>a</strong>,<br />

As <strong>in</strong> your first letter, I admire <strong>in</strong> each of the ones that have followed your habit of<br />

precise seek<strong>in</strong>g and f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g, your <strong>in</strong>de- fatigable journey to what you mean, and, always,<br />

your be<strong>in</strong>g right. You are right, <strong>Mar<strong>in</strong>a</strong> (isn't that a rare th<strong>in</strong>g with a woman, such a be<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>-the-right<br />

<strong>in</strong> the most valid, the most carefree sense). This hav<strong>in</strong>g a right not to<br />

anyth<strong>in</strong>g, hardly com<strong>in</strong>g from anywhere; but from such pure self-sufficiency, out of the<br />

fullness and completeness of it all, you are right, and hence have forever a right to the<br />

<strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>ite.<br />

Every time I write to you, I'd like to write like you, to speak my self <strong>in</strong> Mar<strong>in</strong>ian, by<br />

your equable, and withal so feel<strong>in</strong>g, means. Your utterance, <strong>Mar<strong>in</strong>a</strong>, is like a star's<br />

70

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