THE INFINITE
Giacomo Leopardi
Dear to me always was this lonely hill,
This hedgerow also, which to such extent
Keeps the horizon hidden from the view.
But sitting here and gazing brings to mind
Interminable spaces, superhuman
Silences, and the very deepest calm
Beyond what sight perceives, till what I feel
Is on the verge of fear. And when the wind
Is rustling through these branches, I compare
The infinite silence to this voice I hear.
And then eternity returns to me,
And the dead seasons and the present one
Alive with all the sounds it bears. And so,
My thought is shipwrecked in immensity,
And sweet it is to drown in such a sea.
(1819)
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