“when I was in part other than I am now” – Petrarch
| C’era una volta Arturo Graf C’era una volta … che cosa? Son come grullo stasera! Non mi ricordo; ma c’era, c’era una volta qualcosa. Devi saperlo anche tu, povera foglia di rosa … c’era una volta qualcosa, qualcosa che non c’è più! | Once upon a time Arturo Graf Once upon a time there was…what? I feel like a half-wit this evening! I can’t remember, but there was, once upon a time there was something. You too realize it for sure, poor little rose leaf … once upon a time there was something something that is no more! Translation ©Matilda Colarossi 2025 |
This poem is from the collection Le rime della selva by Arturo Graf, Fratelli Treves Editori, Milan, 1906. The quotation by Petrarch is an epigraph found in this collection of poems: it is from “Voi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il suono” , circa 1350.
I chose ”C’era una volta” today because it is very much how I feel: everything changes, everything is in flux; what was is no more; what is today will not be tomorrow, like the leaf of a rose, fallen; what is past is gone.
In translating this short poem, I lost so much: his metre; his rhyme (changing enclosed rhyme for alternate half-rhymes in the first stanza and half-rhymes in the second) …but worst of all I lost its playfulness, the way it could hide such a sad truth in such a lovely filastrocca. Sorry.- M.C.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
parallel texts: words reflected 
I love this poem.
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