"Festa Lontana" (Far Away Fair) by Giovanni Pascoli. English translation, with original Italian text. "Festa Lontana" (Far Away Fair) from the collection "Myricae" (1891-1900)

The following translation of "Festa Lontana" (Far Away Fair) 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 also on Kobo.

Far Away Fair

      

  A tiny, infinite church bells’ peal

buzzes and resounds, as from a fair

very far away, behind an oblivious veil.

There, when the bells chime like a wave,

in the street the elder men, with their

     white head bare, to the ground their gaze fixate.

     Yet the small kids open their round eyes wide;

all around, their serene sky is trembling high.

They shout as the firecrackers go wild. 

At their beloved breast, mother holds them tight.

Festa Lontana

Un piccolo infinito scampanìo

ne ronza e vibra, come d’una festa

assai lontana, dietro un vel d’oblìo.

Là, quando ondando vanno le campane,

scoprono i vecchi per la via la testa

bianca, e lo sguardo al suol fisso rimane.

Ma tondi gli occhi sgranano i bimbetti,

cui trema intorno il loro ciel sereno.

Strillano al crepitar de’ mortaretti.

Mamma li stringe all’odorato seno.

From the collection “Myricae” (1891-1900)