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XVI
Ché lì mica te giova esse sapiente;
Nun giova avecce testa o ritintiva,
Cor mare, si nun ci hai immaginativa,
Te l'immagini sempre diferente.
Ché lì tu hai da rifrette co' la mente,
Che quello che tu vedi da la riva,
Lontano, insin che l'occhio te ci arriva,
Pare chissà che cosa, e invece è gnente.
Ché lì pôi camminà quanto te pare:
Più cammini e più trovi l'infinito,
Più giri e più ricaschi in arto mare.
Séguiti a camminà mijara d'ora...
Dove c'è er cèlo te pare finito,
Invece arrivi lì... comincia allora! |
XVI
Because there being a learned man is pointless;
No use being intelligent or having good memory,
Without imagination, you will always picture sea
Different from what it really is.
Because you have to think
That what you see from the shore,
As far as your eye can reach,
May seem something to you, but nothing's there.
Because there you can sail as long as you like:
The more you proceed, the more you reach infinity,
The more you go, the more you find yourself in high seas.
You keep sailing for thousands of hours...
Where the sky is, you may think that it comes to an end,
Instead, you reach that far... and there it starts again! |
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XVII
E figurete quelli che ce staveno,
Figurete che straccio d'allegria!
Avanti! Sempre avanti! ...Tribolaveno:
E l'America? Sė! Vattela a pîa!
E poi, co' tante bocche che magnaveno,
Magna, magna, se sa, per quanto sia,
Le proviste più stava e più calaveno.
Per cui, qui, dice, è mejo a venì via.
E defatti, capischi, un po' per vorta
Cominciaveno a dì: - Ma dove annamo?
Ma s'accidente qui, dove ce porta? -
E abbotta abbotta; arfine venne er giorno
Che fecero: - Percristo, ma che famo? - ✱
J'agnedero davanti, e je parlorno. |
XVII
Just imagine the people who were there,
Just imagine how happy they felt!
Straight on! Keep going! ...They struggled:
And America? Ah, who knows?
And with so many mouths to feed,
The more they ate, you know,
The more they sailed, the more provisions ran low.
So, they thought, it's better to get away from here.
As a matter of fact, you know, little by little
They started asking: - Where are we going?
Where is this wretch taking us? -
This feeling kept growing; so the day came
When they said: - By Christ, what are we doing? - 1
They walked up to him, and they spoke. |
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XVIII
- Eh... je fecero, dice, ce dispiace;
Ce dispiace de dijelo davanti,
Ma qui, chi più chi meno, a tutti quanti
'Sta buggiarata qui poco ce piace.
Così lei pure, fatevi capace,
Qui nun ce so' né angeli né santi,
Qui 'gni giorno de più che se va avanti
Se va da la padella ne la brace.
«Avanti, avanti!» So' parole belle;
Ma qui, non ce so' tanti sagramenti,
Caro lei, qui se tratta de la pelle!
Già, speramo che lei sia persuasa;
Si no, dice, nun facci complimenti,
Vadi pure... Ma noi tornamo a casa. |
XVIII
- Oh... they said, we are sorry;
We are sorry to tell you frankly,
But more or less each one of us
Is unhappy of this nonsense.
So try to understand us,
We are no angels nor saints,
Here each day that goes by
We jump out of the frying-pan into the fire.
«Keep going, keep going! »; they are nice words;
But here, there's no question about it,
We are risking our own lives!
Well, we hope we've persuaded you;
Otherwise do as you wish,
Feel free to carry on... But we are going back home. |
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XIX
- Eh, fece lui, si avevio st'intenzione,
Potevio fà de meno de fà er viaggio!
Rifrèttece ar momento de l'ingaggio,
No mo' che stamo qui in agitazione.
Che nun se sa? Quanno ch'uno s'espone,
Ha da stà cor vantaggio e lo svantaggio...
Armeno accusì fa chi ci ha coraggio. -
Eh, je lo disse bene, e co' ragione;
Perché quann'uno, caro mio, se vanta
D'esse un omo d'onore, quanno ha dato
La parola, dev'esse sacrosanta.
E sia longa la strada, o brutta o bella,
Magara Cristo ha da morì ammazzato,
Ma la parola sua dev'esse quella. |
XIX
- Ah, he said, if this was your intention,
You should have better not made the journey!
You should have thought of it when you were recruited,
Not right now that we are in distress.
Don't you know? When one exposes himself,
He ought to accept the pros and cons...
At least, who's got courage does so. -
Ah, he told them well, and he told them right.
Because, dear friend, when one boasts
To be a man on honour, if he gives his word
He must absolutely keep it.
And however long the road may be, either good or bad,
No matter what it costs, 1
His word must never change. |
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XX
Ma d'antra parte, quelli ciurcinati,
Pure loro bisogna compatilli:
Lì, soli, in mezzo ar mare, abbandonati,
Se dice presto, rimané tranquilli!
Capisco, dichi tu: ce sête annati,
Dunque è inutile a fà tutti 'sti strilli:
Ma, dimme un po', dov'ereno 'rivati?
Che faceveno lì? Qui sta er busilli.
E 'gni giorno era come er giorno appresso:
Oggi era brutto... Speravi domani...
Te svejavi domani, era lo stesso.
E senza mai sapé dov'uno annasse!
Cristogesumaria! Manco li cani!
Dev'esse stato un gran brutto trovasse! |
XX
But on the other hand, those poor guys
Should be pitied, as well:
There, alone, amidst the sea, abandoned,
It's easy to tell them to keep calm!
I understand your point: you accepted to go there,
So it's no use making all this fuss:
But, tell me, where had they got to?
What were they doing there? That's the problem.
And each day was like the one that followed:
Today was bad... They hoped tomorrow would be better...
They woke up on the next day, and it was just the same.
And without a clue as to where they were going!
Jesus! Not even dogs would be treated that way!
It must have really been an awful situation! |
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