Franz Kafka

Friday, April 20, 2018

"Cigola la carrucola del pozzo" (The well's pulley creaks) by Eugenio Montale, translated in English. From the collection "Ossi di seppia” (Cuttlefish bones,) 1925




From "Montale's Essential: The Poems of Eugenio Montale in English"  
ebook available on Amazon and Kobo

The well's pulley creaks



The well's pulley creaks
the water rises to the light and merges with it.
Trembles a memory in the brimming pail,
in the pure circle an image smiles.
I draw a face to evanescent lips, 
the past deforms itself, it grows old,
belongs to someone else...
Ah, how it already screeches
the wheel, it returns you to the gloomy bottom,
vision, a distance divides us.
  
From the collection "Ossi di seppia” (Cuttlefish bones,) 1925.

 

Cigola la carrucola del pozzo


Cigola la carrucola del pozzo
l’acqua sale alla luce e vi si fonde.
Trema un ricordo nel ricolmo secchio,
nel puro cerchio un’immagine ride.
Accosto un volto a evanescenti labbri:
si deforma il passato, si fa vecchio,
appartiene ad un altro…
Ah che già stride
la ruota, ti ridona all’atro fondo,
visione, una distanza ci divide.
 
 
From the collection "Ossi di seppia” (Cuttlefish bones,) 1925.



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