“And soon all of us will sleep under the earth, we who never let each other sleep above it.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“I opened my veins. Unstoppably
life spurts out with no remedy.
Now I set out bowls and plates.
Every bowl will be shallow.
Every plate will be small.
And overflowing their rims,
into the black earth, to nourish
the rushes unstoppably
without cure, gushes
poetry ...”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“Somewhere in the night a
human being is drowning.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“At the skin, my blood calls out to
your heart, my whole sky craves
an island of tenderness.
My rivers tilt towards you.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“I have two enemies in all the world,
Two twins, inseparably fused:
The hunger of the hungry and the fullness of the full.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“What shall I do, singer and first-born, in a
world where the deepest black is grey,
and inspiration is kept in a thermos?
with all this immensity
in a measured world? ”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“The eclipses of
poets are not foretold in the calender.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“For the way of the comets is the poet's way.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“I am only a shell where the ocean is still sounding.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“У меня в Москве — купола горят!
У меня в Москве — колокола звонят!
И гробницы в ряд у меня стоят, —
В них царицы спят, и цари.
И не знаешь ты, что зарёй в Кремле
Легче дышится — чем на всей земле!
И не знаешь ты, что зарёй в Кремле
Я молюсь тебе — до зари!
И проходишь ты над своей Невой
О ту пору, как над рекой-Москвой
Я стою с опущенной головой,
И слипаются фонари.
Всей бессонницей я тебя люблю,
Всей бессонницей я тебе внемлю —
О ту пору, как по всему Кремлю
Просыпаются звонари…
Но моя река — да с твоей рекой,
Но моя рука — да с твоей рукой
Не сойдутся, Радость моя, доколь
Не догонит заря — зари.
7 мая 1916
At home in Moscow - where the domes are burning,
at home in Moscow - in the sound of bells,
where I live the tombs - in their rows are standing
and in them Tsaritsas - are asleep and tsars.
And you don't know how - at dawn the Kremlin is
the easiest place to - breathe in the whole wide earth
and you don't know when - dawn reaches the Kremlin
I pray to you until - the next day comes
and I go with you - by your river Neva
even while beside - the Moscow river
I am standing here - with my head lowered
and the line of street lights - sticks fast together.
With my insomnia - I love you wholly.
With my insomnia - I listen for you,
just at the hour throughout - the Kremlin, men
who ring the bells - begin to waken,
Still my river - and your river
still my hand - and your hand
will never join, or not until
one dawn catches up another dawning.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“An Attempt at Jealousy"
How is your life with an ordinary
woman? without the god inside her?
The queen supplanted—
How do you breathe now?
Flinch, waking up?
What do you do, poor man?
How’s your life with a tourist
on Earth? Her rib (do you love her?)
is it to your liking?
How do you live with cheap goods: is the market rising?
How’s kissing plaster-dust?
Are you bored with her new body?
How’s it going, with an earthly woman,
with no sixth sense?
Are you happy?
No? In a shallow pit—how is your life,
my beloved? Hard as mine
with another man?”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“Посвящаю эти строки
Тем, кто мне устроит гроб.
Приоткроют мой высокий,
Ненавистный лоб.
Измененная без нужды,
С венчиком на лбу,-
Собственному сердцу чуждой
Буду я в гробу.
Не увидят на лице:
"Все мне слышно! Все мне видно!
Мне в гробу еще обидно
Быть как все".
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Идешь, на меня похожий,
Глаза устремляя вниз.
Я их опускала – тоже!
Прохожий, остановись!
[...]
Не думай, что здесь – могила,
Что я появлюсь, грозя...
Я слишком сама любила
Смеяться, когда нельзя!
И кровь приливала к коже,
И кудри мои вились...
Я тоже была, прохожий!
Прохожий, остановись!
[...]
Но только не стой угрюмо,
Главу опустив на грудь.
Легко обо мне подумай,
Легко обо мне забудь.
Как луч тебя освещает!
Ты весь в золотой пыли...
- И пусть тебя не смущает
Мой голос из-под земли.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, quote from Selected Poems
“But what I did know was that I loved a girl. And I knew I loved her in a way I'd never, ever recover from. I knew I loved her to the very core of myself. And I knew she loved me back.”
― Mia Sheridan, quote from Finding Eden
“I always have felt that we are a nation that is very different . . . unique, perhaps. We were founded by thinking men, brilliant men, men who designed a system where conflicts were resolved in debate, where the decision of the majority would prevail. These men had confidence in that majority, they had faith that the design of the system would, by definition, ensure that reasonable men would reach reasonable conclusions, and so we would govern ourselves, all of us, by this new type of system, a system where our conflicts and differences would be resolved by civilized means. There is no other system like this, anywhere.”
― Jeff Shaara, quote from Gods and Generals
“To make the cross of Jesus just about human salvation is to miss that God is interested in the saving of everything. Every star and rock and bird. All things.”
― Rob Bell, quote from Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
“His mind is trying to catch the thought as a cat tries to catch a shadow.”
― Jerry Spinelli, quote from Loser
“A LL THE ENTRIES in Freud’s diary of his last decade are short. Very few are more than one line long.”
― Clive James, quote from Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts
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