Saturday Rave: Oblio by Arturo Graf.

The Word Den is usually, I hope, a happy place, but here, for a change, is something very sad indeed.

The original poem is in Italian, but I think some of the desolation comes through in English.

Do enjoy a good wallow in hopelessness!

Oblivion

Yes, I am full of years, though my hair
Has not yet become frosted, nor my back curved;
But thinking over the course of my life
My memory shivers, and I cannot find myself.

Inside my heart I can find neither yearnings nor remorse,
Nether sorrow nor anger.
Abandoned and tired, overwhelmed, like
An ice-wrecked ship beyond all human help,

A slow oblivion invades me.
Days pass, and months, and years,
And I do not know it,
Feeling nothing any more.

And if sometimes it happens that
I come back almost to myself
I cannot believe it,
Ashamed to find myself alive.

****

Oh dear.

Still, never mind. 

At least things aren't that bad, are they?

The original Italian of this poem (and a different translation) can be found HERE.

Word To Use Today: lost. The Old English losian meant to perish.