From L’Allegria/Cheerfulness (Poems 1914-1919) by Guiseppi Ungaretti
Part 2, Porto Sepolto/The Buried Port

C’era Una Volta
Quota Centoquarantuno l’I agosto 1916

Bosco Cappuccio
haun declivio
di vellutoverde
come una dolce
paltrona

Appisolarmi la
solo
in un caffe remote
con una luce fievole
come questa
di questa luna

Once Upon a Time (Translation by Wally Swist)
Quote One Hundred Forty-one, August 1916

Bosco Cappuccio
is a slope
of green velvet
like a plush
armchair

To drowse there
alone
in a distant café
beneath dim light
just like this
just like this moon