Norman Mailer
“Lucifer” by Franz von Stuck
“Christina’s World” by Andrew Wyeth. I’ve always loved this painting.
![Silentium
Speak not, lie hidden, and concealthe way you dream, the things you feel.Deep in your spirit let them riseakin to stars in crystal skiesthat 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 alonewithin your soul a world has grown,the magic of veiled thoughts that mightbe blinded by the outer light,drowned in the noise of day, unheard…take in their song and speak no word.
—Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev [Painting: “The SIlence” by Johann Heinrich Füssli]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3hpposGVC1qc53v4o1_500.jpg)
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.
—Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev [Painting: “The SIlence” by Johann Heinrich Füssli]
Toni Morrison / Robert McCurdy, 2006 / Oil on canvas / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; on loan from Ian and Annette Cumming