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: