The City (1910)

You said; "I'll go to another country, I'll go to another sea.
There's another, better city to be found.
All I try to do is doomed to condemnation,
and my heart is like a corpse beneath the ground.
How long will my mind stay in this stagnation?
Wherever my gaze falls I see appear
the drear and blackened ruins of my life here
where I've soiled, despoiled, destroyed so many years".

You won't find new horizons, you won't find other seas.
The city will pursue you, all the streets you stride
will be the same.  In these same precincts you'll go grey,
for it's always at this city you'll arrive -
in these same house you'll decay.
Never hope for other places - there's no road for you, no berth.
By ruining your life in this small patch of ground,
you've shattered it throughout the Earth.

(Up to the contents page.)