Recently we went to visit my cousin who lives in Santa Margherita Ligure, near Genova. As it was a nice day, we decided to go out for a walk after lunch. My cousin suggested we walked to Portofino, 6 km away along the beautiful Ligurian coast. On our way to Portofino we passed uno scoglio su cui cresceva un pino solitario (a rock in the sea with a solitary pine tree growing on it). The sight of this old, twisted, lonely pine reminded me of a poem written by Salvatore Quasimodo, and published in 1930 in Acque e terre (Waters and lands). You can find out more about Salvatore Quasimodo here https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/specchio-di-primavera/
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Rifugio d’uccelli notturni
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In alto c’è un pino distorto;
sta intento ed ascolta l’abisso
col fusto piegato a balestra
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Rifugio d’uccelli notturni,
nell’ora più alta risuona
d’un battere d’ali veloce.
–
Ha pure un suo nido il mio cuore
sospeso nel buio, una voce;
sta pure in ascolto, la notte.
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Refuge of the Night Birds
High up, there is a twisted pine;
engrossed in listening to the abyss
its trunk bent like a cross-bow.
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Refuge of the night birds,
in the depths of the night it echoes
with a fast beating of wings.
–
My heart also has its nest
suspended in the darkness, a voice;
to which it also listens, at night.
Comments:
Yvonne:
That was quite lovely, thank you!
Jeannet:
Della fotografia si guarda senza di moti….
io stessa; -grazie!
Margaret:
Molte grazie, Serena, for sharing that lovely poem with us.
Vince:
Salve Serena:
We also have un pino solitario. It is in Monterey, California and it is so famous that it is involved with trademark disputes!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lone_Cypress.jpg
P.S. Italian is just unfair to other poets. It starts off beautiful before the poet even begins.
Vince
Andreas:
Salve Serena!
Che poesia tanto bella!