Infinity Beyond the Boundary

I have always loved this cliff,
And this old fence that hides
From my eyes the final earthly horizon.

Yet, sitting here, I imagine beyond it –
Endless spaces and spaces,
And a silence unknown to mankind,
And a depth where the heart stands still
In wild trembling. And when the wind
Rustles through the leaves of these trees,
I compare this voice, fleeting and fragile,
To the eternal darkness of the deserts.
And all my being drowns in them –
In this abyss, I surrender to peace,
For this shipwreck is intoxicating to me.

O Nature… why then have you,
Merciless, bitter stepmother,
Given us a heart full of hopes,
Only to later mock harshly
Every tear and every impulse of ours?

I look at the stars – distant and clear,
They burn in icy pride,
Indifferent to my small sorrows,
To wars, to states that will turn to dust,
To everything we call a “glorious path.”

We are only shadows, momentary ghosts,
Whose illusions shattered against the granite
Of your eternal, mute solitude.

You weave life, only to tear it apart again.
You destroy us, knowing no pity,
In the chaos of worlds that move in a circle.
Man is but a spark that fades away,
Leaving in the memory of the heavens
Neither a sound, nor a sigh, nor a trace.