SNZ-B19022023

inspired by:
Don't Ask Us for the Word (EUGENIO MONTALE 1923)

Versions: #1#2
Don't ask us for the word to frame
our shapeless spirit on all sides,
and proclaim in letters of fire to shine
like a lone crocus in a dusty field.

Ah, the man who walks secure,
a friend to others and himself,
indifferent that high summer prints
his shadow on a peeling wall!

Don't ask us for the phrase that can open worlds,
just a few gnarled syllables, dry like a branch.
This, today, is all that we can tell you:
what we are not, what we do not want.