Thursday 28 June 2007

Uomo del mio tempo - War

Sei ancora quello della pietra e della fionda,
Uomo del mio tempo. Eri nella carlinga,
Con le ali maligne, le meridiane di morte,
-T'ho visto-dentro il carro di fuoco, alle forche,
Alle ruote di tortura. T'ho visto: eri tu,
Con la tua scienza esatta persuasa allo sterminio,
Senza amore, senza Cristo. Hai ucciso ancora,
Come sempre, come uccisero i padri, come uccisero
Gli animali che ti videro per la prima volta.
E questo sangue odora come nel giorno
Quando il fratello disse all'altro fratello:
"Andiamo ai campi." E quell'eco fredda, tenace,
È giunta fino a te, dentro la tua giornata.
Dimenticate, o figli, le nuvole di sangue
Salite dalla terra, dimenticate i padri:
Le loro tombe affondano nella cenere,
Gli uccelli neri, il vento, coprono il loro cuore.




You are still the one with the stone and the sling,
Man of my time. You were in the cockpit,
With the malevolent wings, the meridians of death,
-I have seen you - in the chariot of fire, at the gallows,
At the wheels of torture. I have seen you: it was you,
With your exact science set on extermination,
Without love, without Christ. You have killed again,
As always, as your fathers killed,
as the animals killed that saw you for the first time.
And this blood smells as on the day
When one brother told the other brother:
"Let us go into the fields." And that echo, chill, tenacious,
Has reached down to you, within your day.
Forgot, O sons, the clouds of blood
Risen from the earth, forget your fathers:
Their tombs sink down in ashes,
Black birds, the wind, cover their heart.

...

Wednesday 27 June 2007

Ecco mormorar l'onde


Ecco mormorar l'onde,
E tremolar le fronde
A l'aura mattutina, e gli arboscelli,
E sovra i verdi rami i vaghi augelli
Cantar soavemente,
E rider l'Oriente;
Ecco già l'alba appare,
E si specchia nel mare,
E rasserena il cielo,
E le campagne imperla il dolce gelo,
E gli alti monti indora:
O bella e vaga Aurora,
L'aura è tua messaggera, e tu de l'aura
Ch'ogni arso cor ristaura.





Now the waves murmur
And the boughs and the shrubs tremble
in the morning breeze,
And on the green branches the pleasant birds
Sing softly
And the east smiles;
Now dawn already appears
And mirrors herself in the sea,
And makes the sky serene,
And the gentle frost impearls the fields
And gilds the high mountains:
O beautiful and gracious Aurora,
The breeze is your messenger, and you the breeze's
Which revives each burnt-out heart.

All'anima mia - Soul

Dell'inesausta tua miseria godi.
Tanto ti valga, anima mia, sapere;
sì che il tuo male, null'altro, ti giovi.

O forse avventurato è chi s'inganna?
né a se stesso scoprirsi ha in suo potere,
né mai la sua sentenza lo condanna?

Magnanima sei pure, anima nostra;
ma per quali non tuoi casi t'esalti,
sì che un bacio mentito indi ti prostra.

A me la mia miseria è un chiaro giorno
d'estate, quand'ogni aspetto dagli alti
luoghi discopro in ogni suo contomo.

Nulla m'è occulto; tutto è sì vicino
dove l'occhio o il pensiero mi conduce.
Triste ma sollegiato è il mio cammino;

e tutto in esso, fino l'ombra, è in luce.

Umberto Saba








You delight in your unending misery.
Such, my soul, should be the worth of knowledge,
that your suffering alone should do you good.

Or is the self-deceived the lucky one?
He who cannot ever know himself
or the sentence of his condemnation?

Still, my soul, you are magnaminous;
yet how you thrill to phantom opportunities,
and so are brought down by a faithless kiss.

To me my misery is a bright summer
day, where from high up I can make out
every facet, every detail of the world below.

Nothing is obscure to me; it's all right there,
wherever my eye or my mind leads me.
My road is sad but brightened by the sun;

and everything on it, even shadow, is in light.

Wednesday 13 June 2007

Real Friends & Storm!






Friends are the people who stand beside you through the good times and the bad. They are the ones that you share your adventures with and, when life is good, those that you encircle with your successes. They cause you to laugh and to cry, frustrate you, and amaze you. They are the ones that provide you with all those crazy experiences and emotions that make your life worth living.



At times when it seems like everyone else around you has disappeared, true friends are those that stand beside you. They are the person that you call out to when there is just no one else who seems to understand. They are there to defend you and protect you. They are your port in a storm and when you haven't the strength to stand anymore they pick you up, dust you off, and act like nothing out of the ordinary has happened, and support you till you are strong enough to once again walk alone. True friends are always there for you.

...

Tuesday 5 June 2007

Humanity



To Malik: awaken your heart to kindness and mercy for the people and love and tenderness for them. Never, never act with them like a predatory beast which seeks to be satiated by devouring them, for the people fall into two categories: they are either your brethren in faith or your kindred in creation ...




Do not ever say, 'I have been given authority' or 'My command should be obeyed.' Because it corrupts the heart, consumes one's faith, and invites calamities...

....