from L’Allegria/Cheerfulness (Poems 1914-1919) by Guiseppi Ungaretti
Part 5, Prime/Paramount
Scoperta Della Donna, Translation by Wally Swist
Parigi – Milano 1919
Ora la donna mi apparve senza piu veli, in un
pudore natural.
Da quel tempo I suoi gesti, liberi, sorgenti in
una solennita feconda, miconsacrano all’uni-
ca dolcezza. reale.
In tale confidenza passo senza stanchezza.
In quest’ora puo farsi notte, la chiarezza lu-
nare avra le ombre piu nude.
The Discovery of Woman
Parigi – Milano 1919
Now the woman appeared to me without any veils,
in a natural modesty.
From that time on my gestures freely arose from
a fruitful solemnity,
they consecrated me to a singular real sweetness.
In this particular sweetness, I pass without fatigue.
At this time, it is the dark of night, and moonlight
can cast the barest of naked shadows.
