From L’Allegria/Cheerfulness (Poems 1914-1919) by Guiseppi Ungaretti
Part 2, Porto Sepolto/The Buried Port
Fratelli
Mariano il 15 luglio 1916
Di che reggimentosiete
fratelli?
Parola tremante
nella notte
Foglia appena nata
Nell’aria spasimante
involontaria rivolta
dell’uomo presente alla sua
gragilita
Fratelli
Fratelli/Brothers (Translation by Wally Swist)
Brothers
Mariano, 15 July 1916
What is your regiment
brothers?
Quivering word
in the night
Freshly opened leaf
In the spasmed air
the involuntary uprising
of the man who presides over
his own fragility
Brothers
