Franz Kafka

Thursday, November 29, 2012

San Martino, Saint Martin's Day, by Giosue Carducci, English Translation

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) - Saint Martin and the Beggar 1597/1599





Saint Martin's Day, by Giosue Carducci, from "Rime Nuove", 1887


The fog to the bare hills
soars in the thin rain,
and below the wind
howls and churns the sea;

yet through the hamlet's alleys
from the fermenting casks
goes the pungent scent of wines
to touch a soul with glee.

On the firewood, turns
the skewer crackling:
stands the hunter whistling,
on the threshold to see

in the reddening clouds
flocks of black birds,
like exiled thoughts
as in the dusk they flee.

Original text in Italian:

San Martino, di Giosue Carducci, da"Rime Nuove", 1887

 

La nebbia a gl'irti colli
piovigginando sale,
e sotto il maestrale
urla e biancheggia il mar;

ma per le vie del borgo
dal ribollir de' tini
va l'aspro odor dei vini
l'anime a rallegrar.

Gira su' ceppi accesi
lo spiedo scoppiettando:
sta il cacciator fischiando
su l'uscio a rimirar

tra le rossastre nubi
stormi d'uccelli neri,
com'esuli pensieri,
nel vespero migrar. 

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