Boris Pasternak >
"A life of fame is crude ambition..."
A life of fame is crude ambition,It’s not what elevates and lifts.No need to archive each revision,And tremble over manuscripts.The goal of art is one’s self-giving,And not the racket of success.To be a fable with no meaningRetold by all is shamefulness.Don’t imitate - imposture’s tasteless, -But learn to live, so, after all,You’ll draw the love from open spacesAnd overhear the future’s call.And leave omissions to be capturedIn destiny, not text, and striveTo mark across the margins chapters And scenes from an entire life.And dip your body, let it graze Obscurity and hide your tracks,Like countrysides hide in the haze,Where everything appears pitch-black.Let others trail you to the finish,In step, wherever you have passed.But you, yourself, must not distinguishDefeats and victories amassed.Save face, persistently and wholly,And never deviate or bend, But be alive, alive and only,Alive and only to the end.