La Noia - Monumentum

I Feel this Dazed by the NOTHING which

Is Surrounding me that, IF I went Mad

In this VERY moment, my Own Insanity

Wouldn’t be but, an ETERNAL sitting down

My EYES Astounded, my MOUTH’s opened

My HANDS hidden, between my knees

Neither Laughing nor Weeping

Nor EVEN Moving, if not on Compulsion

From the Place where I’d be

I have no more VIGOUR

To Conceive any WISH, not even a Deadly one

And not because I FEAR death, but 'cos I NO LONGER see

Any difference between DEATH and this LIFE of mine

Where NOBODY comes to Relieve me

Not EVEN the Sorrow

This is the First time that TEDIUM not only Tires

And weighs Down on me, it’s also Worrying

And Tearing me, just like the STRONGEST of Pains

I’ve got so Frightened by the VANITY of things

And the Condition of Mankind — Death of every Passion —

As they’re ALL DEAD, in My Heart

That I’m going Insane, thinking that my DESPAIR itself

Isn’t BUT NOTHING

Farewell

(Lyric: a free interpretation & translation from)

(«Sulla Noia e la Disperazione» by Giacomo Leopardi 1819)