Journal of Italian Translation - Brooklyn College - Academic Home ...

Santos/Riccardi
of war and hell someone will recall
the ravens their countless flocks in the dark
diving into the glaring trenches.
6.
They come in the dark through the lunar grass
from forest to forest wearing lightweight
clothes fit for a lucky hunt
they too white in the white of the moon.
The clearest night is the night of ravens.
Hurled down by Minerva
visible still among the stars the Dragon
between one Ursa and the other overturned.
Will have died by the next full moon
but now, marked with the blood of the elderberry
all together in the darkness of a cosmic hollow
they sense the halting of the coursing dogs.
7.
in the organic system of machines
each machine is paired by proportion
by number, volume, velocity
whether operating alone or in a group or several groups
the more perfect the more the flow
of raw materials is regulated
by mechanical devices
because a system of machines is but one big robot
8.
in the modern factory system
robots are complete sets of mechanical organs
harmonious unified and conscious
subordinated to a single force
they search among the leaves for metals
in the sky over Sesto waning and rising
rings of manganese steel
screws, rotors, a reheating furnace
crucible spouts and blooms,
145