Primo Levi. From Ad ora incerta.(At an uncertain hour). To friends. Dear friends, here I say friends/ in the wide meaning of the word:/ wife, sister,brotherhood, parents,/ school friends/people seen only once or associated with for an entire lifetime:/As long as between us, for at least a moment,/ a segment has been stretched,/ a well defined cord./*/ I speak for you, comrades of a way/ thick, not without its difficulties,/ and for you as well, that lost/ your soul, the spirit, the taste for life./ Or no one, or someone, or maybe only one, or you/ who are reading me: remember the time,/ before the wax would harden,/ when everyone was like a signet./ Among us everyone carries the mark/ of the friend met on the way;/ In everyone the trace of everyone./ For good or evil/ in wisdom or folly/ each stamped by the other./ Now that time is beckoning near,/ that events are ended,/ to all of you the soft wish/ that the fall be long and mild. December 16, 1985.