"The lightning", "Il lampo" by Giovanni Pascoli, English version with original text in Italian; Giovanni Pascoli's "Il lampo" from the collection "Myricae" (1891-1903)

Picture of Giovanni Pascoli as a teacher, 1882

  

The following translation of "Il lampo" (The lightning) by Giovanni Pascoli is from the book "The Poems of Giovanni Pascoli: Translated in English, with Original Italian Text," published by LiteraryJoint Press (2017). Also available as Amazon ebook (Free on Kindle Unlimited!) and  on Kobo.

The Lightning

And sky and earth showed what they were like:

the earth panting, livid, in a jolt;
the sky burdened, tragic, exhausted:
white white in the silent tumult
a house appeared disappeared in the blink of an eye;
like an eyeball, that, enlarged, horrified,
opened and closed itself, in the pitch-black night.

Il lampo

E cielo e terra si mostrò qual era:

la terra ansante, livida, in sussulto;
il cielo ingombro, tragico, disfatto:
bianca bianca nel tacito tumulto
una casa apparì sparì d’un tratto;
come un occhio, che, largo, esterrefatto,
s’aprì si chiuse, nella notte nera.

Giovanni Pascoli, from the collection "Myricae" (1891-1903)