Virtual Rome - Language and Poetry - "The Discovery Of America" by C.Pascarella

	CESARE PASCARELLA LA SCOPERTA DE L'AMERICA (THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA) page 9	other pages: page 1 . . . I - V page 2 . . . VI - X page 3 . . . XI - XV page 4 . . . XVI - XX page 5 . . . XXI - XXV page 6 . . . XXVI - XXX page 7 . . . XXXI - XXXV page 8 . . . XXXVI - XL page 10 . . XLVI - L

XLI	XLII	XLIII	XLIV	XLV

XLI
E lui fu accorto peggio d'un sovrano!
Li re, l'imperatori, le regine,
Te dico, je baciaveno le mano:
Le feste nun aveveno mai fine.

E da pertuttoquanto er monno sano,
Fino ar fine de l'urtimo confine,
Onori... feste... E dopo, piano piano
Cominciorno li triboli e le spine.

Ché l'invidiosi che, percristo, viveno
De veleno, ner vede uno ch'arriva
A fà quello che loro nun ci arriveno,

Je cominciorno come li serpenti,
Mentre che lui nemmanco li capiva,
A intorcinallo ne li tradimenti.

XLI
He was greeted better than a ruler!
Kings, emperors, queens,
You know, kissed his hands:
Celebrations had no end.

And all over the world [1]
Up to the furthermost boundary,
Credits... celebrations... And little by little
Problems and pain began to rise.

As the envious who - by Christ! - live on venom [2]
In seeing somebody reaching
Achievements they were not able to reach,

Began acting like snakes,
While he was unaware of them,
Weaving treacherous plots against him.

[1] · The old world, i.e. Europe.

[2] · Who only live on treachery, deceivement, misdeeds, etc.

XLII
E lui, quello ch'aveva superato,
Ridenno, li più boja tradimenti
Der mare, de la terra, de li venti,
Coll'omo ce rimase massacrato.

E lui, quello ch'aveva straportato
Li sacchi pieni d'oro a bastimenti,
Fu ridotto a girà pe li conventi,
Cor fijo in braccio, come un affamato!

Er re (che lo ripossino ammazzallo
Dove sta) dopo tanto e tanto bene
Ch'aveva ricevuto, pe straziallo,

Co' l'antri boja ce faceva a gara.
E dopo aveje messo le catene,
Voleva fallo chiude a la Longara.

XLII
And he, who had defeated,
Laughing, the worst betrayals
Of sea, of land, of winds,
Got slain against man.

And he, who had brought back
Ships full of sacks of gold,
Had to go begging convent by convent,
Carrying his son, like a hungry man!

The king (may he be damned
Wherever he is) after having received so much good,
Seemed to have fun in destroying him

Together with all those infamous people.
And after having him in chains,
He wanted to lock him up in prison. [1]

[1] · Literally "wanted to lock him up in the Longara".
"Longara" is the dialect name for Rome's main prison, Regina Coeli,
in via della Lungara, below the Janiculum hill, half way between
Trastevere neighborhood and the Vatican.

XLIII
Ma come? Dopo tanto e tanto bene,
M'avressi da bacià dove cammino,
E invece? Me fai mette le catene?
Me tratti come fossi un assassino?

E tu sei Gasperone... Spadolino...
E che ci avrai, percristo, ne le vene?
Er sangue de le tigre? de le jene!
E che ci avrai ner core? Er travertino?

Ma come?! Dopo tutto quer ch'ho fatto,
Che t'ho scoperto un monno e te l'ho dato,
Mo' me voi fà passà pure pe matto?

Ma sarai matto tu, brutto impostore,
Vassallo, porco, vile, scellerato;
Viè de fora, che me te magno er core!

XLIII
How is it possible? After so much good,
You should kiss where I lay my feet,
Instead? You have me in chains?
You treat me as if I were a criminal?

You are a brigand... a bandit... [1]
By Christ! What runs in your veins?
A tiger's blood? That of a hyaena! [2]
What's in your heart? Travertine? [3]

How come?! After I did all those things for you,
I discovered a new world and I gave it to you,
Now you even want others to think I'm crazy?

You are the crazy one, evil fraud,
Scoundrel, pig, coward, wretch;
Come out, I want to eat your heart out! [4]

[1] · The names in the original version are those
of famous brigands who haunted the countryside in the
19th century.

[2] · Hyaenas are popularly reputed as vicious creatures,
since they feed on dead animals and their cry is similar to
a sinister laugh.

[3] · A kind of cheap marble, commonly used in Rome.

[4] · Who speaks is getting more and more excited, and uses
expressions which were likely to be heard in taverns, when
a brawl was about to take place.

XLIV
Cusì j'avrebbe detto a quel'ingrato.
Invece quello, quello ch'era un santo,
Rimase fermo lì, cor core sfranto,
Senz'uno che l'avesse consolato.

E quelli che je s'erano rubato
La scoperta, l'onori, tutto quanto,
Nun je diedero pace, insino a tanto
Che loro non lo veddero schiantato.

Eh, l'omo, tra le granfie der destino,
Diventa tale e quale a un giocarello
Che te capita in mano a un ragazzino:

Che pò esse er più bello che ce sia,
Quando che ci ha giocato un tantinello,
Che fa? lo rompe, e poi lo butta via.

XLIV
All this he should have said to that ungrateful man.
Instead he, who was like a saint,
Stood still, with a broken heart,
Without anybody to cheer him up.

And those who had stolen from him
The discovery, honour, everything,
Never left him alone, up to the moment
They saw him collapse.

Ah, man, caught between the claws of destiny,
Becomes just like a toy
Which ends in the hands of a child:

However amusing it may be,
When he has played with it for a while,
What does he do? He breaks it, then throws it away. [1]

[1] · This dramatic remark over human destiny
is very similar to the one G.G.Belli left us in his sonnet
"The Philosophizing Barman".

XLV
E poi semo sur solito argomento,
Ch'hai voja a fà, ma l'omo è sempre quello!
Ponno mutà li tempi, ma er cervello
De l'omaccio ci ha sempre un sentimento.

Ma guarda! Si c'è un omo de talento,
Quanno ch'è vivo, invece de tenello
Su l'artare, lo porteno ar macello,
Dopo more, e je fanno er monumento.

Ma quanno è vivo nu' lo fate piagne,
E nun je fate inacidije er core,
E lassate li sassi a le montagne.

Tanto la cosa è chiara e manifesta:
Che er monumento serve per chi more?
Ma er monumento serve per chi resta.

XLV
And this is a common topic,
You just can't help it, man will never change!
Times may change, but the thoughts
Of the evil man are always the same.

Look at that! If there's a talented man,
While he's alive, instead of
Raising him to great honours, they slaughter him,
Then, when he's dead, they build a monument for him.

Don't make him cry while he's alive,
And don't anguish his heart,
And leave stones by the mountains. [1]

After all, it's so obvious:
Do the dead need a monument?
Of course, only who survives needs it.

[1] · Stones for building the monument.