Today we read Nella notte di Natale, by Umberto Saba.
Umberto Saba struggled for most of his life with depression. He fought it by working at his poetry, which was initially not well received; with psychoanalysis, being treated by a student of Freud himself; and later on with opium, to which he became addicted.
His wife’s infidelities, and being on the run to avoid Nazi deportation, certainly didn’t help.
It is said he often oscillated between bouts of depression and periods of creative enthusiasm. This poem seems to describe one of the latter.
It is Christmas night, and he is trying to write, when he suddenly feels overwhelmed by a “force of love”, that soothes his feverish heartbeats.
The sestina opens with him addressing the Christmas night, asking it what the source of this power is. And the answer is, of course, Jesus.
The original:
Io scrivo nella mia dolce stanzetta,
d’una candela al tenue chiarore,
ed una forza indomita d’amore
muove la stanca mano che si affretta.
Come debole e dolce il suon dell’ore!
Forse il bene invocato oggi m’aspetta.
Una serenità quasi perfetta
calma i battiti ardenti del mio cuore.
Notte fredda e stellata di Natale,
sai tu dirmi la fonte onde zampilla
Improvvisa la mia speranza buona?
È forse il sogno di Gesù che brilla
nell’anima dolente ed immortale
del giovane che ama, che perdona?\
