European Elegies/Autumn (1)/Animae rerum
2.ANIMAE RERUM
As I survey the landscape's shadowy gloomAnd feel a deepening night within my heart,My anguish seems dark nature's counterpartAnd nature seems my misery to assume.
I watch the driving rain this sombre eveAnd feel my eyes aflood with bitter tears,Until I know not, all confused with fears,Whether I weep from grief, or, weeping, grieve.
As melancholy shades the valley claimIn murky dark, and o'er all outlines roll,My unforgetting lips call one dear name—
And in that tortured silence infiniteI know not if the darkness blots my soulOr if my Stygian soul makes black the night.
From the Spanish of Francisco Villaespesa.