Notes About The Poem
This is only the initial part of a long poem in italian language entitled Moderna Commedia, which I am going to translate in english.
It consists of 30 canti in terzine (like Dante's Divina Commedia) for a total of 2700 verses.
I started this poem almost for kidding and completed it in about one year in a sort of fever and deep emotional participation.
It is a dream and, as a dream (sogno), won the first prize of the contest "Alla mensa dei sogni". It was also selected among the first five finalists of the prize "Alessandro Manzoni" and the first four canti had the special prize of the jury of the contest "Il poeta e il narratore " at Monselice.
The paper and ebook of "La Commedia illustrata" are available on the site ilmiolibro.it
Moderna Commedia, Canto 1, Part 1
Dopo lunghe vicende della vita
Mi ritrovai seduto su un divano
Con un telecomando fra le dita.
When my life struggles were to their end
I found myself sitting on a sofa
Holding a tv control in my hand.
E girando i canali piano piano
Cercavo storie prive di violenza
Ma la ricerca continuava invano.
Scanning the channels slowly one by one
Was looking for non violent images
But my research went on along in vain.
Ovunque sangue e lutti in evidenza
Riempivano il visore a me di fronte
Mettendo a dura prova la pazienza.
Mourning and blood appeared everywhere
Filling the screen I saw in front of me
Subjecting patience to a test too hard.
Vedo oscillare e poi crollare un ponte
Rotto dall’infuriar della Natura
Che divide la terra a valle e a monte.
I see a bridge fluctuating, breacking down
Much hardly stricken by the nature fury
The land dividing upstream downstream.
Torri gemelle di elevate mura
Colpite in cielo sono torce ardenti
Vederle sbriciolate è cosa dura.
Tall walls twin towers of a city pride
In sky affected are only burning torches
To see them crumbled is very hard indeed.
Odio e violenza accecano le menti
Di chi troppo subisce o troppo impera
Colpendo a caso le civili genti.
Violence and hate blind the human brains
Of people subject or much commanding
Hitting at random any civil being.
Chi la storia rilegge sempre spera
Che guerra e morte vengano bandite
Ma la speranza umana mai si avvera.
Reading the story one really hopes
That war and death will be banned away
But human hope never becomes real.
Uomini, sveglia! E con forza agite
Contro chi l’armi costruisce e vende
E trae profitto distruggendo vite.
Men be wake up! And strongly act
Against who weaponry builds and sells
And benefit gains from destroyed lifes.
Del secolo passato le vicende
Rivedo col ricordo e col pensiero
Dolci momenti misti a cose orrende.
Of the last century looking at the events
I see by memory and by thought
Sweet moments and horrendous things.
Un piccol uomo col baffetto nero
Urla alle folle l’odio contro il mondo
Che vuole soggiogare nel suo impero.
A little man with a black mustache
Shouting to crowd his hate for world
Which wants to subjugate in his empire.
E prende corpo il suo progetto immondo
Di sterminare un popolo reietto
Che uccide in massa quasi fino in fondo.
His dirty project takes soon shape
To exterminate a rejected people
Which kills in mass almost to the end.
Uomo sanguigno, corpulento aspetto
Da molto tempo prese già il potere
Arringando le folle, gonfio il petto.
Sanguineous man, of portly appearance
Much time before took already power
The crowds haranguing, with a swollen breast.
Al nazista s’allea. Per suo volere
Inique leggi contro l’altra “razza”
Promulga tosto. Poi le fa valere.
With the nazi an alliance forms
And unfair laws against the other “race”
Suddenly enacts and then applies.
L’odio così anche in Italia impazza
Colpendo senza senno i cittadini
Con l’applauso e il consenso della piazza.
So in Italy too hateful hatred rages
Citizens hitting with no sense and reason
With the applause and consent of the crowd.
Per lo spazio vitale ed i suoi fini
Il nazista scatena la gran guerra
A nord del Belgio valica i confini
To get more space reaching more power
The nazist triggers the great war
At north of Belgium crosses borders.
Invadendo la Francia e la sua terra
Fino a Parigi e al mare d’occidente
Minacciando perfino l’Inghilterra.
Invading France and its land
Down to Paris and the western sea
Threatening even the English shore.
Il pavido alleato immantinente
Partecipa alla guerra mal pensando
Di unire le sue sorti col vincente.
The fearful ally just at once
Enters the war with the wrong illusion
To join his future with the winning force.
Tronfio di sé sfodera il suo brando
E vilmente lo affonda nella Francia
Vinta, battuta e ormai senza comando.
Self smug and puffed he pulls his sword
And cowardly he pierces France
Won, demolished by then without a guide.
Egli in tal modo il proprio carro aggancia
A quello del bieco suo alleato
Che adesso verso l’est la sfida lancia.
He in this way his chariot hooks
To the one of his awry ally
Who now to east his challenge throws.
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