Episode 2: Giovanni Pascoli
Giovanni Pascoli was a very influential poet in Italy, working at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Bologna, 2 novembre
Per il viale, neri lunghi stormi,
facendo tutto a man a man più fosco,
passano: preti, nella nebbia informi,
che vanno in riga a San Michele in Bosco.
Vanno. Tra loro parlano di morte.
Cadono sopra loro foglie morte.
Sono con loro morte foglie sole.
Vanno a guardare l’agonia del sole.
Bologna, 2 November (Johnston + Silverman)
Up the path, the long black flocks
pass, and darken sidewalks:
rows of priests, blurred by mist,
climbing toward St. Michael in the Woods.
Among themselves they talk about the dead.
Around their heads the leaves are drifting, dead.
All that stays beside them are the leaves.
They’ve come to watch the sunlight leave.
Bologna, 2 November (Bussi)
Up the avenue, long flocks of black
Darkening paths
Past reflecting priests in the fogs
They walk righteously to St.Michael in the woods
Between them, they discuss death
Falling above them, a leaves last breath
The lonesome leaves are coming undone
They’re going to watch the agony of the sun
Credits:
Translator: Emma Bussi
Producer+Sound Design: Kyra Ho
Producer: Maria Goikhberg
Readers: Maddie Lee, Lucia Guercio, Isabel Wideman
Theme Music: Maxence Fulconis
Poem Scorer: Simon Drummond
Guest: Marian Della Putta Johnston https://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/people/della-putta-johnston