flight

For a God who laughs like a child,

So much raucous sparrow chatter,

So many dances in branches,

A soul becomes weightless,

The grasslands have such a softness,

Such chasteness revives in the eyes,

Hands like leaves

Are spellbound in the air...

Who is frightened now, who judges?

Weightless

Giuseppe Ungaretti, 1934

from Selected Poems, Bilingual Edition

translated by Andrew Frisardi

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It was Merisi who first suggested Italian poet, Giuseppe Ungaretti,

so I borrowed his book of selected poems from my library last year.
The brilliant translation from the Italian to English in this bilingual

edition has marvelously preserved much of the delicacy and mystery

of Ungaretti's poetry. Which reminds me, I've got to find myself a

copy for my own little library.

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For more Theme Thursday participants, click [HERE].

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photo from Google images

Giuseppe Ungaretti, by Serena Maffia

..

The Selected Poems, Bilingual Edition by Giuseppe Ungaretti is
almost due back to the library, and I've already renewed it once!
I might just have to break down and buy myself a copy. So, before
I have to return it, here's another of his wonderful poems. I thought
this one would be especially appropriate to coincide with the full
October moon and it is one that translates nicely into English.

I was always ready for departures.

When you have secrets, night, you're merciful.

When as a child I woke up
Startled, I'd soothe myself listening
To howlings in the hollow street--
Stray dogs. More than the little lamp
That burned forever in that room
Near the Madonna, they seemed
Like mystical company.

And was it not in chasing
Echos from before my birth,
I surprised myself with hear, a man?

But when, night, your face was bare
And cast on rock
I was nothing but fiber, elemental,
Crazed, apparent in every object,
Lowliness crushed me.

The Captain was serene.

(The moon came into the sky)

He was tall and never bowed.

The Captain, 1929
Giuseppe Ungaretti
translated by Andrew Frisardi

In Cappuccio Forest
there's a slope
of green velvet
like a lovely
overstuffed chair

My dozing off there
alone
in a far-off cafe
with a faint light
like this one
this moon is shedding

Once upon a Time
Giuseppe Ungaretti
August 1, 1916
translated by Andrew Frisardi

Weightless

For a God who laughs like a child,
So much raucous sparrow chatter,
So many dances in branches,

A soul becomes weightless,
The grasslands have such a softness,
Such chasteness revives in the eyes,

Hands like leaves
Are spellbound in the air...

Who is frightened now, who judges?

Weightless, 1934
Giuseppe Ungaretti, Selected Poems
Bilingual Edition, translated by Andrew Frisardi

I really have been enjoying my new book of Eugenio Montale
poetry. Merisi suggested another Italian poet, Giuseppe Ungaretti,
so I checked out his book of selected poems from my library. The
brilliant translation from the Italian into English in this bilingual

edition has marvelously preserved much of the delicacy and

mystery of Ungaretti's poetry.