Whoever has seen you in the water calls you
Siren.
Winner of contests, on the screen
Of my humble life you seem
My opposite.
But a thread ties me to you, a fragile
Unbreakable thing, while you smile
And go on ahead and do not see me. All around
You are many friends, young
Boys and girls like you; together you make an uproar
In the bar that welcomes you. Then one day
A sad shadow fell – oh for an instant! –
From your eyelids, a maternal shadow that curved
The corners of your beautiful, proud mouth,
And married your dawn to my dusk.
By Umberto Saba
