medianoche (midnight, 2007)

by guido monte

                                                                                       

[ Once Terence’s Chremes: humani nil

a me alienum puto, ‘ all that’s human,

 it isn’t far from me ’ −

 but Hesiod’s visiting angels: idmen

pseýdea pollà léghein etýmoisin omoia,

  ‘ ours are voices of credible lies ’ −

at last Pindar, dedaidalmenai pseydesi poikilois

 ecsapatonti mýthoi...‘ myths, mixed

 with credible lies, confuse us...’ ]

1

When it’s caught up

 every little human illusion...

Wenn aus den Weltenweiten

an ending voice says:

«es medianoche...midnight»,

je reçois the last black human clouds

d’un monde encore tout seul,

of a wars world alone

                   wars that can’t be off

2

 Ting,

the melting pot:

_______

___ ___

_______

_______

_______

___ ___

linn the fire, sunn the wind

on this different way

où nous sommes des otages de l'obscurité,
where we’ re hostages of darkness

(sed Ezra: «nor are here souls, nec personae...

nothing matters but the quality

 of affections»)

3

L’antico umore una volta

s’accese nel calore del sole

 once the ancient mood caught life;

here are the lands, vastes mondes,

“beithe luis nin” −

 how many stars listen

to the mutable human noises

et dans un instant

you must decypher un long espoir,

time sweeping away the pale day −

dans une terre loin de la terre

and before chaos...

chaos, the only cosmos’ face:

nous ne sommes rien d’autre

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Beithe luis nin ( birch, ash, rowan) are the universal references of beth luis nion , the first three letters of an ancient Celtic alphabet.

The verses of “Ezra”: Ezra Pound, Canti Pisani (Pisan cantos), LXXVI.