Count Giacomo Leopardi

When, as a boy,
I went To study in the Muses' school, One of them came to me, and took Me by the hand, and all that day, She through the work-shop led me graciously, The mysteries of the craft to see. She guided me Through every part, And…

Beauty beloved, who hast my heart inspired, Seen from afar, or with thy face concealed, Save, when in visions of the night revealed, Or seen in daydreams bright, When all the fields are filled with light, And Nature's smile is sweet, Say, hast…

Thou from the top of yonder antique tower, O lonely sparrow, wandering, hast gone, Thy song repeating till the day is done, And through this valley strays the harmony. How Spring rejoices in the fields around, And fills the air with light, So…

The morning rain, when, from her coop released, The hen, exulting, flaps her wings, when from The balcony the husbandman looks forth, And when the rising sun his trembling rays Darts through the falling drops, against my roof And windows gently…

When in the Thracian dust uprooted lay, In ruin vast, the strength of Italy, And Fate had doomed Hesperia's valleys green, And Tiber's shores, The trampling of barbarian steeds to feel, And from the leafless groves, On which the Northern Bear…

Though all the nations now Peace gathers under her white wings, The minds of Italy will ne'er be free From the restraints of their old lethargy, Till our ill-fated land cling fast Unto the glorious memories of the Past. Oh, lay it to thy heart,…

I round the threshold wandering here, Vainly the tempest and the rain invoke, That they may keep my lady prisoner. And yet the wind was howling in the woods, The roving thunder bellowing in the clouds, Before the dawn had risen in the sky. O ye…

This solitary hill has always been dear to
And this hedge, which prevents me from seeing most
The endless horizon.
But when I sit and gaze

TO
Sul cominciar del mio novello canto,
Voi che tenete l'eliconie cime Prego, vergini Dee, concilio santo,
Che 'l mio stil conduciate e le mie rime:

Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colleE questa siepe che da tanta
De'l ultimo orrizonte il guarde esclude.
Ma sedendo e mirando
Spazi di la da quella, e

ON
ER
NG
GE. Since now thou art about to leave Thy father's quiet house, And all the phantoms and illusions dear, That heaven-born fancies round it weave, And to this lonely region lend their charm, Unto the dust and noise of life…

It was the morning; through the shutters closed, Along the balcony, the earliest rays Of sunlight my dark room were entering; When, at the time that sleep upon our eyes Its softest and most grateful shadows casts, There stood beside me, looking…

The storm hath passed; I hear the birds rejoice; the hen, Returned into the road again, Her cheerful notes repeats.
The sky serene Is, in the west, upon the mountain seen: The country smiles; bright runs the silver stream. Each heart is…

O lovely moon, how well do I recall The time,--'tis just a year--when up this hill I came, in my distress, to gaze at thee: And thou suspended wast o'er yonder grove, As now thou art, which thou with light dost fill. But stained with mist, and…

ED ON
ER
NT. Such _wast_ thou: now in earth below, Dust and a skeleton thou art. Above thy bones and clay, Here vainly placed by loving hands, Sole guardian of memory and woe, The image of departed beauty stands. Mute, motionless, it…

I thought I had forever lost,
Alas, though still so young, The tender joys and sorrows all,
That unto youth belong; The sufferings sweet, the impulses
Our inmost hearts that warm; Whatever gives this life of ours

ON
IS
RY OF
HE

What doest thou in heaven,
O moon? Say, silent moon, what doest thou? Thou risest in the evening; thoughtfully Thou wanderest o'er the plain, Then sinkest to thy rest again. And art thou never satisfied With going o'er and o'er the selfsame…

The light of day was fading in the west, The smoke no more from village chimneys curled, Nor voice of man, nor bark of dog was heard; When she, obedient to Love's rendezvous, Had reached the middle of a plain, than which No other more bewitching…

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…

My country,
I the walls, the arches see, The columns, statues, and the towers Deserted, of our ancestors; But, ah, the glory I do not behold, The laurel and the sword, that graced Our sires of old. Now, all unarmed, a naked brow, A naked…

Wandering from the parent bough, Little, trembling leaf, Whither goest thou? "From the beech, where I was born, By the north wind was I torn. Him I follow in his flight, Over mountain, over vale, From the forest to the plain, Up the hill,…

Ah, well can I the day recall, when first The conflict fierce of love I felt, and said: If _this_ be love, how hard it is to bear! With eyes still fixed intent upon the ground, I saw but _her_, whose artless innocence, Triumphant took possession…

Children of Fate, in the same breath Created were they,
Love and Death. Such fair creations ne'er were seen, Or here below, or in the heaven serene. The first, the source of happiness, The fount whence flows the greatest bliss That in the…