Метод свободных ассоциаций

Uom di povero stato e membra inferme
che sia dell’alma generoso ed alto,
non chiama sé né stima
ricco d’òr né gagliardo,
e di splendida vita o di valente
persona infra la gente
non fa risibil mostra;
ma sé di forza e di tesor mendíco
lascia parer senza vergogna, e noma
parlando, apertamente, e di sue cose
fa stima al vero uguale.
Magnanimo animale
non credo io giá, ma stolto,
quel che nato a perir, nutrito in pene,
dice: — A goder son fatto, —
e di fetido orgoglio
empie le carte, eccelsi fati e nòve
felicitá, quali il ciel tutto ignora,
non pur quest’orbe, promettendo in terra
a popoli che un’onda
di mar commosso, un fiato
d’aura maligna, un sotterraneo crollo
distrugge sí, ch'avanza
a gran pena di lor la rimembranza.
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.

(надо вернуться к занятиям итальянским, совсем забросила его)