Giacomo Casanova accepts the post of librarian in Bohemia offered to him by the Count of Waldstein

Listen to me, Sir: I’m weak with sadness.
In the French Revolution my few remaining
friends are dying. Look at me: I’ve travelled
the countries of the world, the prisons of the world,
the beds, the gardens, the seas, the convents,
and seen how they scorn my good intentions.
I was an abbot within Rome’s city walls
and a noble soldier during the hot nights on Corfu.
Sometimes I played the violin a little
and you know, Sir, how Venice vibrates
with music and the islands and domes burn.
Listen to me, Sir: from Paris to Moscow
I’ve travelled in vain, I’m pursued by the wolves
of the Holy Office, I have a hurricane of tongues
at my back, venomous tongues.
And I just want to save my mental clarity,
to smile at the light of each new day,
to show my utter horror about everything that dies.
Sir, I will stay here in your library,
I will translate Homer, I will write of my past life,
I’ll dream of the blue seraglios of Istanbul.