"Non recidere, forbice, quel volto" by Eugenio Montale, translated in English (English version by LiteraryJoint), "Do not chop away, shears, that face" by Eugenio Montale

Edvard Munch, Lady from the sea, 1896,  Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA

"Montale's Essential: The Poems of Eugenio Montale in English," published by LiteraryJoint Press, 2017, available on Amazon and Kobo.

Do not chop away, shears, that face

 

Do not chop away, shears, that face,

alone in the mind that is dispersing,

do not turn her big, listening face

into my fog of always.

A chill comes down... The hard blow snaps

and the wounded acacia shakes off 

the cicada's husk

in the first slime of November.  

By Eugenio Montale, from the collection "Le Occasioni", 1939.
Version in English translated by LiteraryJoint.

Original Italian version:

Non recidere, forbice, quel volto

Non recidere, forbice, quel volto,
solo nella memoria che si sfolla,
non far del grande suo viso in ascolto
la mia nebbia di sempre.

Un freddo cala... Duro il colpo svetta.

E l'acacia ferita da sé scrolla 
il guscio di cicala
nella prima belletta di Novembre.

Eugenio Montale,  dalla raccolta"Le Occasioni", 1939.