Marina Tsvetaeva, Her Life in Poems - Rolf Gross
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 />
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