The Birth Of Song – Quasimodo

The Birth Of Song
(Sorgiva: luce riemersa)

Arise: re-emergent light:

bright burning leaves.

I lie down in brimming rivers

where there are islands

mirrors of shadows and stars.

And your celestial heights overwhelm me,

that always nurture

my other life with joy.

I long to reclaim you,

though disillusioned,

adolescence with infirm

limbs.

Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968)

source: Salvatore Quasimodo selected poems
poetsofmodernity.xyz
translated by A S Kline