| L’inverno indifferente Mario Ranalli L’inverno indifferente c’inseguiva sotto le coperte a scriverci parole di freddo dentro gli occhi, se il vento si rompeva contro i pioppi e improvvisi cadevano i giorni dietro il monte. Ma il mattino aveva l’alito leggero e il sorriso sicuro al mio paese: riapriva lo sguardo delle case alla mestizia delle strade vuote e ridava tepore alle parole e ai panni irrigiditi lungo i fili. Piombava sulle spalle di mia madre il silenzio come un destino antico e mio padre s’alzava ch’era buio a discorrere coi buoi e sapeva il tempo da una nuvola, dal vento, da un fiore o dal volo d’un uccello. | The indifferent winter Mario Ranalli The indifferent winter followed us under the blankets to write words of cold within our eyes, if the wind shattered against the poplars and the days suddenly tumbled behind the mountain. But the morning had gentle breath and the secure smile of my town: it reopened the view of the homes to the mournfulness of the empty roads and restored warmth to the words and the clothes hanging frozen on the lines. Silence descended upon my mother’s shoulders like an ancient fate and my father awoke with the dark to converse with the oxen, and he understood the weather from a cloud, from the wind, from a flower or from the flight of a bird. Translation ©Matilda Colarossi 2022 |
Mario Ranalli was born on July 23, 1930, in Nereto.
He was a grade school teacher and principal in Alba Adriatica and Civitella.
His poetry was published in such periodicals and anthologies as: “Poesia abruzzese del 900”, “Promesse e promesse della giovane poesia”; “Parnaso d’Abruzzo”, La Spiga d’Abruzzo, “Poeti intorno al mondo”.
His poetry collections include: Momento equinoziale(1983), Sortilegio del silenzio(1988), La parola indecifrata (1990).
The poem found here, L’inverno indifferente, can be found in the anthology “Il respiro leggero dell’Abruzzo. “Scrittori famosi raccontano le terre abruzzesi” edited by Dacia Maraini and published by Casa Editrice Ianieri, 2003. https://www.ianieriedizioni.com/
I would like to thank Casa Editrice Ianieri for permission to translate and post this beautiful poem.
Photo: Carpineto della Nora, Abruzzo
parallel texts: words reflected 