IL LAMPIONE

by Gianpiero Actis

STREET LAMP

 

We look to the past

When the light shone brighter

When days were sun filled

And after dark

We loitered hand in hand

Under its yellow beam

Your summer dress picked out

Your face lit

In  mysterious tones

As we cuddled together

Afire

Under the street lamp.

 

We struggle to remember

Its warm glow

Its elegant form

While  the sharp lights

Where we take

Our evening stroll

These winter nights

Are so bright

Fail to flatter

Your hard-won lines

Your worried frown

Oh for the street lamp

When life was just begun

And I kissed you, my love,

 Under its subtle rays

 

 

Aeronwy Thomas

 

Aeronwy Bryn Thomas-Ellis (3 March 1943 – 27 July 2009) was a poet, writer and translator of Italian poetry. She was the second child and only daughter of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlin Macnamara. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronwy_Thomas)

 

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STREET LAMP was written by Aeronwy Thomas after visiting Gianpiero Actis exhibition in Turin (2006) where a painting of a street lamp was on display.

Credit: STREET LAMP was previously published in: AWAY WITH WORDS, An Antology of Poetry, Poetry Monthly Press, Nottingham 2007

 

IL LAMPIONE

 

Noi guardiamo verso il passato

Quando la luce splendeva più chiara

Quando i giorni erano pieni di sole

E dopo l’oscurità

Indugiavamo mano nella mano

Sotto i suoi gialli raggi

Il tuo vestito estivo metteva in risalto

Il tuo viso illuminato

Con  toni misteriosi

Mentre ci abbracciavamo

Forte

Sotto il lampione.

 

Ora noi lottiamo per ricordare

Il suo caldo bagliore

La sua forma elegante

Mentre le luci taglienti

- Là dove facciamo

La nostra passeggiata serale

In queste sere d’inverno -

Sono così luminose

Ma non riescono ad addolcire

Le tue rughe eroicamente conquistate

Il  tuo sguardo preoccupato.

Oh quel lampione

Quando la vita era appena iniziata

E io ti baciavo, amore mio,

Sotto i suoi raggi sottili

 

 

Translated by:  Lidia  Chiarelli