Batte Botte

On the ship
That bounds,
On to ships it sounds
Of a dawn
On the prow
Gleams an eye
Incandescent:
(My footstep
Solitary
Sips the shadows
To the Quays)
In the light
Uniform
From the ships
To the city
Only my step
Which at night
Solitary
Sounds
In the night
From the ships
Solitary
Resounds:
So vast
So ambiguous
In the night
So pure!
The water (exhaled
By the sea?)
En route
In the night
Beats: blind
Along the routes
Within the eye
Inhuman
Of the night
Of a destiny
In the night
Farther off
Along the routes
Of the night
My step
Beats Batte.

 
Dino Campana, 1885-1932, from I canti orfici, 1914 – Translation by Matilda Colarossi
 
Cover: Giusy Calla, Memorie dell’Acqua, 2013, C-Print, Collection Mario Trevisan

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