Siamo molto cortesi l'uno con l'altro,
diciamo che e' bello incontrarsi dopo anni.
Le nostre tigri bevono latte.
I nostri sparvieri vanno a piedi.
I nostri squali affogano nell'acqua.
I nostri lupi sbadigliano alla gabbia aperta.
Le nostre vipere si sono scrollate di dosso i lampi,
le scimmie gli slanci, i pavoni le penne.
I pipistrelli già da tanto sono volati via dai nostri capelli.
Ci fermiamo a meta' della frase,
senza scampo sorridenti.
La nostra gente
non sa parlarsi.
Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska (1923-2012) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality".
An Unexpected Meeting
We treat each other with exceeding courtesy;
we says, it’s great to see you after all these years.
Our tigers drink milk.
Our hawks tread the ground.
Our sharks have all drowned.
Our wolves yawn beyond the open cage.
Our snakes have shed their lightning,
our apes their flights of fancy,
our peacocks have renounced their plumes.
The bats flew out of our hair long ago.
We fall silent in mid-sentence,
all smiles, past help.
Our humans
don’t know how to talk to one another.
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