Giacomo Leopardi

Jag vill rekommendera er alla att genast läsa denna man om ni inte redan gjort det. Att han inte är mer hyllad som en av de främsta poeter och filosofer i världshistorien frångår mitt förstånd; texten Vildtuppens Sång går bortom all förklarlig skönhet, och enligt mig finns det knappt någonting i självaste bibeln som går upp mot detta i sanningskraft och estetiskt värde. Här nedan följer ett utdrag ur Vildtuppens Sång:


"En tid kommer, då detta världsallt och naturen själv skola vara slocknade. Och liksom det funnits väldiga mänskliga riken och herradömen, av vilkas underbara, en gång allbekanta öden intet tecken, intet rykte nu något förtäljer, så skall det komma en tid, då det ej finns ett spår mer, som förtäljer om vår värld och dess vilda öden och lidanden. Endast öde tystnad och väldig ro skola uppfylla det oändliga rummet. Så skall alltets liv förgås och upplösa sig med sin fruktansvärda gåta, av ingen förklarad, av ingen begripen."

Ja! Tycker också mycket om "The Broom" (sv. Ginsten). Fick upp ögonen för honom när jag läste Sebastiano Timpanaros "On Materialism".


A man generous and noble of soul,
of meagre powers and weak limbs,
doesn’t boast and call himself
strong and rich in possessions,
doesn’t make a foolish pretence
of splendid living or cutting a fine
figure among the crowd:
but allows himself to appear
as lacking wealth and power,
and says so, openly, and gives
a true value to his worth.
I don’t consider a man
a great-hearted creature, but stupid,
who, born to die, nurtured in pain,
says he is made for joy,
and fills pages with the stench
of pride, promising
an exalted destiny on earth,
and a new happiness, unknown to heaven
much less this world, to people
whom a surging wave, a breath
of malignant air, a subterranean tremor,
destroys so utterly that they
scarcely leave a memory behind.
He has a noble nature
who dares to raise his voice
against our common fate,
and with an honest tongue,
not compromising truth,
admits the evil fate allotted us,
our low and feeble state:
a nature that shows itself
strong and great in suffering,
that does not add to its miseries with fraternal
hatred and anger, things worse
than other evils, blaming mankind
for its sorrows, but places blame
on Her who is truly guilty, who is the mother
of men in bearing them, their stepmother in malice.
They call her enemy:
and consider
the human race
to be united, and ranked against her,
from of old, as is true,
judge all men allies, embrace
all with true love, offering sincere
prompt support, and expecting it
in the various dangers and anguish
of the mutual war on her. And think
it as foolish to take up arms against men
and set up nets and obstacles
against their neighbours as it would be in war,
surrounded by the opposing army, in the most
intense heat of battle,
to start fierce struggles with friends,
forgetting the enemy,
to incite desertion, and wave their swords
among their own forces.
If such thoughts were revealed
to the crowd, as they used to be,
along with the horror that first
brought men together in social contract
against impious Nature,
then by true wisdom
the honest, lawful intercourse
of citizens would be partly renewed,
and justice and piety, would own
to another root than foolish pride,
on which the morals of the crowd
are as well founded
as anything else that’s based on error.