Constantine P. Cavafy – Mura / Walls

Henri Matisse, The french window at Nice, 1919

With no consideration, no pity, no shame,
 they have built walls around me, thick and high.
And now I sit here feeling hopeless.
I can’t think of anything else: this fate gnaws my mind –
 because I had so much to do outside.
When they were building the walls, how could I not have noticed!
But I never heard the builders, not a sound.
Imperceptibly they have closed me off from the outside world.

Senza riguardo, senza pudore nè pietà,
 m’han fabbricato intorno erte, solide mura.
 E ora mi dispero, inerte, qua.
Altro non penso: tutto mi rode questa dura
 sorte. Avevo da fare tante cose là fuori!
Ma quando fabbricavano come fui così assente!
 Non ho sentito mai nè voci nè rumori.
M’ hanno escluso dal mondo inavvertitamente.