Salvatore Quasimodo – Un sepolto in me canta/A Burial Sings in Me

William Samuel Henry Llewellyn, Waterbaby, 1910

I exile myself; so shadow
fills with myrtle,
and subdued space lays me down lightly.
Nor does love achieve
happy sylvan harmonies
with me in a lonely hour:
paradise and marshland
sleep in the hearts of the dead.
And a burial sings in me,
that forces into the stony ground
like a root, and attempts to mark
the opposing path.

(Transl. by A. S. Kline)

M’esilio; si colma
ombra di mirti
e il sopito spazio m’adagia.
Né amore accosta
silvani accordi felici
nell’ora sola con me:
paradiso e palude
dormono in cuore ai morti.
E un sepolto in me canta
che la pietraia forza
come radice, e tenta segni
dell’opposto cammino.