After Eugenio Montale — Spesso il male di vivere ho incontrato
Often, it’s life’s evils that I’ve met:
the blocked-up gurgling stream, frustrated in its course;
a leaf in summer, shrivelled in the heat;
the awful stillness of a fallen horse.
The good in life eluded me, unless it were
to know the wonder in divine indifference:
this statue, upright in the midday somnolence;
that cloud; that falcon in the upper air.
Listen to this poem — read by Peter Hetherington
Spesso il male di vivere ho incontrato:
era il rivo strozzato che gorgoglia,
era l’incartocciarsi della foglia
riarsa, era il cavallo stramazzato.
Bene non seppi, fuori del prodigio
che schiude la divina Indifferenza:
era la statua nella sonnolenza
del meriggio, e la nuvola, e il falco alto levato.
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by John Richmond
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