Dark days

At thirty, the narrator looks back on a life shaped by poor judgment, forbidden impulses, and the frailty of human nature. He warns that his story contains both social wrongdoing and offenses against the law, asking readers to decide whether love can excuse the mistakes it inspires. His confession begins not with childhood adventures, but with a man already worn down by disappointment.

Without ambition or any clear purpose, he drifts through his days, rising, eating, and drinking almost by instinct. Yet beneath this bleak resignation lies the memory of a stronger feeling—one capable of overwhelming reason and changing the course of a life. As he prepares to reveal the prayer and vow that marked a decisive turning point, the listener is drawn into a tense tale of conscience, temptation, secrecy, and the heavy price of passion.