The Mind

To Himself

by Giacomo Leopardi 1798–1837

Translated by Frederick Townsend (1887) · From The Poems of Giacomo Leopardi, trans. Frederick Townsend (1887)

The Mind

Nor wilt thou rest forever, weary heart.
The last illusion is destroyed,
That I eternal thought. Destroyed!
I feel all hope and all desire depart,
For life and its deceitful joys.
Forever rest! Enough! Thy throbbings cease!
Naught can requite thy miseries;
Nor is earth worthy of thy sighs.
Life is a bitter, weary load,
The world a slough. And now, repose!
Despair no more, but find in Death
The only boon Fate on our race bestows!
Still, Nature, art thou doomed to fall,
The victim scorned of that blind, brutal power
That rules and ruins all.

MLA

Leopardi, Giacomo. “To Himself.” Translated by Frederick Townsend. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/leopardi/53/.

Chicago

Leopardi, Giacomo. “To Himself.” Translated by Frederick Townsend. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/leopardi/53/.

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