I found this line from a Salvatore Quasimodo poem reprinted in the NYTimes Magazine and it really caught me off guard. I've got to remember to look up the rest. Pretty arresting, isn't it?

Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra

trafitto da un raggio di sole:

ed é subito sera.

(Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth

transfixed by a sun ray:

and suddenly it is evening.)