GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI
Earth
There might be a shining
On the scythe, and the sound
Return from caverns, straying
Gradually, and the wind might
Redden your eyes with other salt ...
You might hear the sunken keel
Shifting way out at sea,
Or a seagu ll getting angry pecking,
Its prey having fled, a mirror ...
You showed your hands filled high
With the grain of days and nights,
And on the secret immaterial walls
Of your Tyrrhenian forebears
Saw dolphins painted, then, behind
The ships, flying alive,
And you're still earth of ashes
Of inventors without rest.
Cautious a rustling in the olive trees
Might again arouse any moment
Drowsing butterflies,
You'll remain inspired vigils of the dead,
Sleepless interventions of those not here,
The force of ashes-shadows
In
rapid flickerings of silver.
Let the wind keep roaring,
From palms to spruces let the din
Forever devastate, the silent
Outcry of the dead is louder.
Editor's Note : From
Giuseppe Ungaretti: Selected Poems
by Giuseppe
Ungaretti . Translated by Andrew Frisardi. To be published in November by Far–
rar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Translation, introduction, notes, copyright ©
2002
by Andrew Frisardi. Italian poems copyright
©
1942, J943, 1945, I947, 1949,
1954, 196T
by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA, Milano. All rights reserved.
