IT'S NIGHT
IT’S NIGHT
after Salvatore Quasimodo
Alone we stand at earth’s heart
transfixed by a ray of sunlight
and all at once it’s night.
Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
trafitto da un raggio di sole:
ed è subito sera.
DET ÄR VINTER
if Quasimodo had been Swedish …
Solen klättrar uppför
klippan och det börjar snöa …
gässen blir feta.
IT’S WINTER
The sun skinnies
up the cliff and it starts to snow …
the geese are getting fat.
I've long loved this poem.
Here is one of my translations:
We are each alone
in the heart of the earth,
pierced by a ray of the sun,
and then it is night.