Man and the Animals

By Umberto Saba

Translated By Patrick Worsnip

Man, your misfortune’s bottomless.

You’re too much and too little. You survey

with envy (though you think contempt)

the animals, who without concern

and shame, speak about life

and its laws. (Getting to the bottom of it).

Copyright Credit: Umberto Saba, "Man and the Animals" tr. by Patrick Worsnip, from 100 Poems. Copyright © 2022 by Umberto Saba. Reprinted by permission of Carcanet Press, Ltd..

Source: 100 Poems (Carcanet Press, Ltd., 2022)