Ungaretti

Prayer
tr. of Preghiera

When I am awakened
from the dazzle of this promiscuity
in a calm sphere, amazed

When my weight will make me lighter

The shipwreck will be given to me, Lord
from this young day to the first scream



Return tr. of Ritorno

Twining things in a vast monotony of absence

Now the pale involucro

The obscure blue of wisdom is shattered

Now is a dry covering



Chiaroscuro tr. of Chiaroscuro

Also the graves are open

Black space, infinity falling
from this balcony
to the graveside

I have gone to find
my arab countryman
who was cut away the other night

Day returns

The graves are returning
spread out in the green tetro
of the unlitmate obscurity
in the troubled green
of the first clarity


The Joy of Shipwrecks tr. of Allegria di naufragi

And immediately retaken
the voyage
as
after the shipwreck
a superstition
a wolf of the sea