Giacomo Leopardi

“ To passion's transports. Now, a last farewell!
Our wretched minds, our feeble bodies, too,
Eternally are parted. Thou to me
No longer livest, nevermore shall live.
Fate hath annulled the faith that thou hast sworn. ”

“ Say, what hath befallen thee?
Art thou the same? What preys upon thee thus?"
"Oblivion weighs upon thy thoughts, and sleep
Envelops them," she answered; "I am dead,
And many months have passed, since last we met."
What grief oppressed me, as these words I heard!
And she continued: "In the flower of youth
Cut off, when life is sweetest, and before
The heart that lesson sad and sure hath learnt,
The utter vanity of human hope!
The sick man may e'en covet, as a boon,
That which withdraws him from all suffering;
But to the young, Death comes, disconsolate ”