una poesia italiana.

I read this poem the other day for my Italian literature class and it has become my favorite piece that we've read thus far. Bravissima.

Margherita Guidacci

Non a te appartengo, sebbene nel cavo

della tua mano ora riposi, viandante;

né alla sabbia da cui mi raccogliesti

e dove giacqui lungamente, prima

che al tuo sguardo si offrisse la mia forma mirabile.

Io compagna d'agili pesce e d'alghe

ebbi vita dal grembo delle libere onde.

E non odio né oblio ma l'amara tempesta me ne divise.

Perciò si duole in me l'antica patria e rimormora

assiduamente e ne sospira la mia anima marina,

mentre tu reggi il mio segreto sulla tua palma

e stupito vi pieghi il tuo orecchio straniero.

and my attempt at a translation:

I do not belong to you, even though in the hollow

of your hand I now rest, wayfarer;

nor to the sand from which you collected me

and where I have long lain, before

to your gaze was offered my wondrous form.

A friend to agile fish and algae

I had life in the lap of the free waves.

And neither hate nor oblivion but the bitter tempest has divided me thus.

Therefore aches in me the ancient love for my homeland

and painstaking murmurings and sighs of my sea-soul,

while you hold my secret in your palm

and, surprised, turn me to your foreign ear.

Some of the assonance ("ma l'amara," "me ne," "odio...oblio," and "la mia anima marina") is lost in the English translation, but I think it retains much of the meaning and imagery. The sentiments that it evokes of nostalgia and identity are ones that I especially identify with, and I think the metaphor is so fitting.

p.s. fun fact about Margherita Guidacci (thank you, Wikipedia): her use of the word "paparazzo" in a translated work is linked to its English use today (i.e. obnoxious media photographer). Crazy!