Alla Sera (To Evening )

by Ugo Foscolo (Translated by Nick Benson)

Forse perché della fatal quiete

tu sei l’immago, a me si cara vieni,
o Sera! E quando ti corteggian liete
le nubi estive e i zeffiri sereni,
Perhaps because you are the image of that fatal quiet

so dear to me, you have come,

O Evening! And when happy summer clouds

and the gentle west wind are your escort,

e quando dal nevoso aere inquiete

tenebre e lunghe all’universo meni,
sempre scendi invocata, e le secrete
vie del mio cor soavemente tieni.
and when from snowy restless heights

you send shadows and darkness into the world,

you descend summoned always, and gently hold

the secret ways of my heart.

 Vagar mi fai co’ miei pensier su l’orme
che vanno al nulla eterno; e intanto fugge
questo reo tempo, e van con lui le torme
You make my thoughts wander forms

that vanish into eternal nothing; meanwhile

this cursed time flees, and with it, the throng

delle cure onde meco egli si strugge;

e mentre guardo la tua pace, dorme
quello spirto guerrier ch’entro mi rugge.
of cares with which it me destroys;

and while I gaze on your peace, that warlike spirit

sleeps, that yet within me roars.