Constantine P. Cavafy – Lontano / Long ago

Vincent van Gogh,Almond Blossom, 1890

I’d like to speak of this memory,
but it’s so faded now -as though nothing’s left-
because it was so long ago, in my adolescent years.

A skin as though of jasmine…
that August evening -was it August?-
I can still just recall the eyes: blue, I think they were…
Ah yes, blue: a sapphire blue.

Dire vorrei questo ricordo… Ma
 s’è così spento… quasi nulla resta:
 lontano, ai primi anni d’adolescenza, posa.
Pelle di gelsomino…
E la sera d’agosto (agosto fu?)
 ormai ricordo appena gli occhi: azzurri, forse…
Oh, azzurri, sì! Come zaffiro azzurri.