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La passione mi divorò giustamente
Amelia Rosselli La passione mi divorò giustamente la passione mi divise fortemente la passione mi ricondusse saggiamente io saggiamente mi ricondussi . alla passione saggistica, principiante nell’oscuro bosco d’un noioso dovere, e la passione che bruciava . nel sedere a tavola con i grandi senza passione o volendola dimenticare . io che bruciavo di passione estinta la passione nel bruciare . io che bruciavo di dolore nel vedere la passione così estinta. Estinguere la passione bramosa! Distinguere la passione dal . vero bramare la passione estinta estinguere tutto quel che è . estinguere tutto ciò che rima con è: estinguere me, la passione . la passione fortemente bruciante che si estinse da sé. . Estinguere la passione del sé! estinguere il verso che rima da sé: estinguere perfino me . estinguere tutte le rime in “e”: forse vinse la passione estinguendo la rima in “e”. |
Passion devoured me justly
Amelia Rosselli Passion devoured me justly passion divided me completely passion conducted me back wisely I wisely conducted myself back . to the passion of wise words, a novice in the obscure woods of a monotonous duty, and the passion that was burning . as I sat at a table with the greats with no passion and wanting to forget . I who was burning with passion extinguished was the passion as it burned . I who was burning with the pain of seeing passion thus extinguished. Extinguishing the yearning passion! Distinguishing the passion from . real yearning for the passion extinguished extinguishing everything that is be . extinguishing everything that rhymes with be: extinguishing me, the passion . the passion strongly burning that extinguished itself alone. . Extinguishing the passion of one! extinguishing the verse that rhymes alone: extinguishing even me . extinguishing all that rhymes with “one”: perhaps the passion won by extinguishing the rhyming “one”. . Translation ©Matilda Colarossi |
Amelia Rosselli (Paris 1930 – Rome 1996), was the daughter of the exiled anti-fascist Carlo who, with his son Nello, was killed by the Fascists in 1937. She lived in France, England and the USA. Musician, composer, expert in ethno-musicology, she brought her music to her poetry, written in French, English and Italian. Her work is highly experimental and original, and was inspired by such artists as Campana and Montale. Among her works we find: Variazioni belliche (1964); Serie ospedaliera (1969); Documento 1966-1973 (1976); Primi scritti 1952-1963 (1980); Impromptu (1981); Appunti sparsi e persi 1966-1977 (1983); La libellula (1985); Antologia poetica (1987); Sonno-Sleep (1953-1966), translated by A. Porta (1989); Diario ottuso 1954-1968 (1990); Sleep, poetry in English translated by E. Tandello (1992). She was also a translator of the works of Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson, and an editorial consultant for Edizioni di Comunità. Her spiritual suffering led to her death by suicide in 1996.
This poem is part of the collection Documento (1976) which includes Amelia Rosselli’s work from 1966-1973. These ten verses read like a variation of a sonnet, made up of insistent almost obsessive beats that oscillate between duty and a yearning passion, burning pain and extinction by this pain, wisely (through painful irony), and passionately as time burns and extinguishes the “one”, of oneself. It is the extinguishing pain that keeps one from suffering again.
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parallel texts: words reflected 
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