Sunday, October 13, 2013

TC: Giuseppe Ungaretti: What would I want with images?


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File:Gentle waves come in at a sandy beach.JPG

Waves on sandy beach, Cabo Polonio, Uruguay: photo by Johntex, 2006





..These wandering landscapes of the ocean's

Shifting surface, the incisive

Candour of daybreak on these

Or those leaves: these things no longer

Draw me; nor can my old eyes make

Out light from shade against the stones.


 
..Forgot, what would I want

With images?




File:Leavessnipedale.jpg

Leaves of European Birch (Fagus): photo by The cat, 2006



..Non più m'attragano i paesaggi erranti
Del mare, né dell'alba il lacerante
Pallore sopra queste o quelle foglie;
Nemmeno più contrasto col macigno,
Antica notte che sugli occhi porto.

..Le immagini a che prò
Per me dimenticata?
 



File:Foggy sunset at Land's End.jpg

Foggy sunset with Brown Pelicans: photo by Mila Zinkova, 2009
 

Giuseppe Ungaretti: Poem IX (Non più m'attragano i paesaggi erranti) from Cori descrittivi di stati d'animo di Didone (Choruses Descriptive of the State of Mind of Dido), in La terra promessa (The Promised Land), 1950; English translation by TC

4 comments:

ACravan said...

I'm so glad that as I was about to shift location, I shifted to this instead.

"these or those leaves" "Forgot"

Reading this remarkable piece on a Sunday morning and seeing the two seascapes makes me very happy to be alive. It also makes me wish that I could read Italian and that I might have met Giuseppe Ungaretti, though I know that sometimes meeting people can shift and spoil the whole thing. Curtis

Mose23 said...

Another beautiful poem came to mind.

TC said...

Thanks so much, fellows.

Sometimes (as you both undoubtedly know) doing a post can be a less than rewarding experience.

Then again, sometimes there's that curious "worth-the-trouble" feeling. All it takes is a word or two.

VANITAS said...

Beautiful post, Tom. Thank you.