This lonely hill was always dear to me,
and this hedgerow, which cuts off the view
of so much of the last horizon.
But sitting here and gazing,
I can see
beyond, in my mind’s eye,
unending spaces,
and superhuman silences,
and depthless calm,
till what I feel
is almost fear. And when I hear
the wind stir in these branches,
I begin
comparing that endless stillness
with this noise:
and the eternal comes to mind,
and the dead seasons, and the present
living one, and how it sounds.
So my mind sinks in this immensity:
and foundering is sweet in such a sea.
– Giacomo Leopardi