Journal of Italian Translation

Fireworks and bells!
This is Lanciano:
gardens and parks,
churches and fountains,
Frentane people,
songs and walks
heart in their hand,
onions and bread
but...head to the ground!...
Even the war!
Don’t touch
their liberty!
Gil Fagiani/Cesare Fagiani
Snow
All ruffled and with those tiny eyes
soaked through and through, that wee bitty sparrow
under that snowfall, wretched little thing,
looked up at the sky and gave out a cry.
He looked for pity from saints and angels
at least to keep the snow off of the roof?
Even a Saint Francis, blessed be,
since he’s in heaven thinks no more of birds.
Bagpipes
Snow falls and I hear the sound of footsteps;
it is really him, it is the piper
that, when I was a kid, just seeing him
for me was a good time beyond compare!
But how goes it, if one -- is the bagpipe
and the other one -- is the song one sings
why, why, do the oncoming years go by
more than the festival shines through my tears?
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