Sono nata il ventuno a primavera
ma non sapevo che nascere folle,
aprire le zolle,
potesse scatenar tempesta.
Cosě Proserpina lieve
vede piovere sulle erbe,
sui grossi frumenti gentili
e piange sempre la sera.
Forse č la sua preghiera.
I was born at the dawn of Spring
not knowing that to be born
with the buds,opening
was to be born with the tempest.
In such a way gentle Proserpina
watched the spring rains
bend the tall grass
and bathe the brown grain.
Weeping her joy
or her prayer?
La cosa piů superba č la notte
quando cadono gli ultimi spaventi
e l'anima si getta all'avventura.
Lui tace nel tuo grembo
come riassorbito dal sangue
che finalmente si colora di Dio
e tu preghi che taccia per sempre
per non sentirlo come rigoglio fisso
fin dentro le pareti.
The night, proud, distant,
tames the weak spirits
but tempts the brave into
adventure.
He lies beside me, night-full
star-full, drowsy with the mystic love
that leads to God.
Be silent, you pray to Him, wordlessly,
be silent like the dark night
that carries beyond the walls
to Heaven.
Ero una foglia libera nel vento
e tu ragazzo che mi hai visto cadere
mi hai presa per un pantano.
I was a lift adrift,
happily floating through the
breezy spring,
and you, watching me, saw me fall,
and crushed me, heavy footed, against the sodden hearth.
Alda Merini was born in Milan in 1931. She writes in moments of great lucidity, since the ghosts that recite as protagonists in the mind's theatre often come from places where madness has visited. In other words, first there is a tragic reality lived in a hallucinating way, and in which she, the poet, is overcome. Then, the same reality bursts into her memory and is projected in a poetic vision in which the poet, pen in hand, captures.
