Quotes from Collected Poems — Primo Levi
1919–1987 Italy
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5 quotes
If he believes time has run its course,
A man is a sad thing too.
Collected Poems (1984)
What to do now? How to detach yourself?
With every work that’s born you die a little.
Collected Poems (1984)
Is anything sadder than a train
That leaves when it’s supposed to,
That has only one voice,
Only one route?
There’s nothing sadder. Except perhaps a cart horse,
Shut between two shafts
And unable even to look sideways.
Collected Poems (1984)
Consider whether this is a man,
Who labours in the mud
Who knows no peace
Who fights for a crust of bread
Who dies at a yes or a no.
Collected Poems (1984)
Stand back, leave me alone, submerged people,
Go away. I haven't dispossessed anyone,
Haven't usurped anyone's bread.
No one died in my place. No one.
Go back into your mist.
It's not my fault if I live and breathe,
Eat, drink, sleep and put on clothes.
Collected Poems (1984)