RIMA LXXI

I could not sleep; I wandered in that limbo
where objects sometimes change their form,
in those mysterious spaces that separate
            wakefulness from sleep.

The ideas spinning round and round
in a silent procession within my mind,
gradually began to move in their dance
            with a slower pace.

My eyelids were veiling the light
which enters the soul through my eyes;
but another inner light illuminated
            a world of visions.

At that moment I heard a sound
like the vague and indistinct murmur
one hears in church, when the faithful
            end their prayers with an amen.

In the distance I heard a sad, thin voice
that was calling me by my name,
and I smelled the odor of extinguished candles,
            of dampness and of incense.

  ……………………………………………………………………………

Night came, and in the arms of oblivion
I sank like a stone into its deep bosom:
I slept, and as I awoke I exclaimed: «Someone
            I loved has died!»