Jason Morgan: ‘Giacomo Leopardi’s triumph of memory’, ‘Reading Pessoa’ and ‘I know the dawn’

Giacomo Leopardi’s triumph of memory

Beyond ideas hides a phantom
drifting at the hidden horizon,
where clouds swim stained with blood as the
sun slowly dies in the void of space.

From the bluff, I watch light sink
to night’s scattered tomb when stillness
heartens imagination to
lord over fate like a singing owl.

The day is fled, the morn’s wings clipped,
and only darkness is to come.
Like a pearl shining beneath waves,
only what passes is real.

Desert flower of memory,
your shadow outshines the sun,
and where blindness reigned eyes see
again, and give life to death.

Jason Morgan

Reading Pessoa

In the end when this passes, significance
will fade away, and the dust you hold will
become the tattered crown of meaning. But
you will always have the sea. Be like the
waves rolling at your feet or the obscure cloud,
breaking heaven with dreams which are less
absurd than life. When the stars die in the
sky, what will I have? The mirror is blank,
and the holy centre touches everything
with irony, nothingness and the sun.

Jason Morgan

I know the dawn

To see beyond the crest where the waves leap.
To read the movement of stars through your eyes
solely. To glimpse evil in men’s hearts like
someone sees bats haunting withered trees. To
watch the sails bellow in wind as ships sweep
the globe of this sad, forgotten world. To
know the void of Buddha sitting on his
petals of infinite glory, to peer
far as turning planets, and the chaos
of nothingness. The sunlight ends in the
endless eve of irony. Your knowledge
is wanton, and wind breathes out the candle.

Jason Morgan