A Song: The Dull Flame of Desire

DULL FLAME OF DESIRE

I love your eyes, my dear
their splendid, sparkling fire
when suddenly you raise them so to cast a swift embracing glance
like lightning flashing in the sky

but there's a charm that is greater still : when my love's eyes are lowered
when all is fired by passion's kiss
and through the downcast lashes I see the dull flame of desire


This is an English translation of a poem by the Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873). This poem also appears at the end of one of the movies that impressed me very much more than 10 years ago - "Stalker" by director Andrei Tarkovsky , 1979 mosfilm studios. This is the text of the song by Bjork. (The video for the song is kind of strange, I suggest you just listen to the song...)
It is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever listened to. It is passionate, beautiful, fragile, tender...just as the feeling it describes.
It is amazing how much this song speaks to me...
These few days I'm listening over and over to it and to the other amazingly good songs from "Volta" - 'Wanderlust', 'Pneumonia', 'I See Who You Are'.

I feel very very sad.

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Here are two more absolutely beautiful poems (in English translation) of Tyutchev.

Silentium!

Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal the way you dream, the things you feel.
Deep in your spirit let them rise
akin to stars in crystal skies
that set before the night is blurred:
delight in them and speak no word.
How can a heart expression find?
How should another know your mind?
Will he discern what quickens you?
A thought, once uttered, is untrue.
Dimmed is the fountainhead when stirred:
drink at the source and speak no word.
Live in your inner self alone within your soul a world has grown,
the magic of veiled thoughts that might be blinded by the outer light,
drowned in the noise of day, unheard... take in their song and speak no word.

/trans. by Vladimir Nabokov/

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Longing, desires still ravage my soul which strives to reach you.
In recollection's twilight I try to catch your image. I can't forget your face.
It is a lovely constellation, timeless, in every place, unreachable, not knowing fluctuation.