Swans Commentary » swans.com November 21, 2011  

 


 

Ariel
(Verses after the reading of a news article)

 

by Guido Monte

 

Multilingual Poetry

 

Translated by Claudine Giovannoni

Pic: "i due angeli" - © 2011 by Guido Monte - Size: 13k
i due angeli
© 2011 Guido Monte

 

 

(Swans - November 21, 2011)  

we are in bologna,
the night is over everything,
a summer night.
maria is 74 years old,
and ariel, her old bulldog
means everything to her
and maria represents "all" for ariel:
they are never alone. maria is old and ill
and you rarely see her around;
but there is ariel,
and therefore this is a worthy reason to exist.
in the middle of an august night,
too sultry in that suburb of bologna,
maria lies in bed but doesn't sleep,
she can't breath well... all of a sudden,
she feels a stab in her chest:
her thoughts went to ariel...
who will look after him?
ariel understands everything,
and begins to howl in despair,
trying to get help,
to get someone to save his maria,
but it's useless. maria dies,
and ariel continues all night long
to bark and cry, for hours and hours,
he cannot accept this
and thinks: "someone MUST save her!"
the next morning
doctors, policemen, and relatives arrive.
somebody manages, at the end, to open the door.
they begin to walk around maria's bed,
and ariel sees them...
someone bends upon her chest, but nobody
can any longer save her.
they speak about forms to fill,
death certificates to draw up,
bureaucratic foolishness...
ariel doesn't understand ("what matters?")
and he watches maria's closed eyes,
which no longer will reopen.

ariel approaches to brush,
for a last time, the face of his beloved...
then he throws himself on the ground,
bedside,
and he dies.

 

 

picture: i due angeli by Guido Monte (2011).

 

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Guido Monte on Swans (with bio). Also, please check Guido's entry on Wikipedia.   (back)

 

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Swans -- ISSN: 1554-4915
URL for this work: http://www.swans.com/library/art17/gmonte127.html
Published November 21, 2011



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