Giacomo Leopardi inspired me to write this Book on 'Sunset Love'. He was inspired by a young woman across the street from him when he wrote his famous poem 'A Silvia". I was looking for a name close to Silvia to be the main character in my book on third age love and I found it... I wanted to pick up on the theme of love and explore in greater detail the various manifestations of this very complex and yet simple sentiment. The episodes of this book are fictional in nature but relate to some real life personal experiences of mine and of people whom I met after the love of my life, my wife, died too early at the beginning of my own third age. No reference is made to anyone single individual. However I did write the poems as if my ideal person for friendship, companionship and love combined well in my quest for love in my sunset years. A love that is much more than a simple physical relationship. The main character in this book, Silvana in this series of episodes, gave me the opportunity to appreciate the suave manner, her shining eyes and captivating smile which continued to prod me along with my writing. She mesmerized me just like Silvia who gave Italian literature one of its greatest love poems! But unlike Leopardi's Silvia, may Padula's Silvana give our third age readers hope for fortune in finding their own sunset love! To all who are in their sunset years and are on their own because of failed relationships or sickness or death, the quest for love remains intact. I hope that you, the reader, enjoy these 'poems' as much as I have done writing them. Tom Padula - Melbourne, October 2019
