#nomorewar #lestweforget #peace

19 gennaio 1944  

Salvatore Quasimodo  

Ti leggo dolci versi d’un antico,
e le parole nate fra le vigne,
le tende, in riva ai fiumi delle terre
dell’est, come ora ricadono lugubri
e desolate in questa profondissima
notte di guerra, in cui nessuno corre
il cielo degli angeli di morte,
e s’ode il vento con rombo di crollo
se scuote le lamiere che qui in alto
dividono le logge, e la malinconia
sale dei cani che urlano dagli orti
ai colpi di moschetto delle ronde
per la vie deserte. Qualcuno vive.
Forse qualcuno vive. Ma noi, qui,
chiusi in ascolto dell’antica voce,
cerchiamo un segno che superi la vita,
l’oscuro sortilegio della terra,
dove anche fra le tombe di macerie
l’erba maligna solleva il suo fiore.
January 19, 1944  

Salvatore Quasimodo  

I read you, sweet verses of an ancient,
and the words born among the vines,
the tents, on the banks of rivers of lands
of the east, like now fall dismal
and desolate in this most profound
night of war, in which no one travels
the sky of the angels of death,
and the wind is heard as a roar of ruins
if it shakes the sheet metal that up above
divides the cabins, and the sorrow
rises of the dogs who howl from gardens
at the sound of the muskets of the patrols
along deserted streets. Someone lives.
Perhaps someone lives. But we, here,
hidden waiting to hear the ancient voice,
look for a sign that surpasses life,
the obscure sortilege of the earth,
where even among the graves of rubble
the evil grass raises its flower.  

Translation © Matilda Colarossi  2021

All rights reserved.

Please contact me at my contact page for permission to use my translations.

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