Dino Campana

LA PETITE PROMENADE DU POÈTE


I am wandering around town
- narrow dark mysterious streets:
Jades and Roses are looking down
Behind glass panes above me.

There’s some people stagger down
Those mysterious flights of stairs
While behind the gleaming glass
Stand the slovens with their tales.

Now the alley is deserted:
Not a soul: a few stars gleam
Above rooftops in the night:
And the night looks fine to me:
And I walk my sorry plight
Through the night with its lush fancy,
But I can taste in my mouth
My saliva turning rancid. Leave the stench
Leave the stench and on your way
And walk on and walk walk on,
Out where houses will give way
To green grass: there I lie down
And get filthy like a hound:
Far away someone is drunk
And sends love songs to drawn blinds.

Dino Campana, 1914

translated by Cristina Viti
Copyrght the Translator and Survivors' Press, 2006