D13
What Were You Doing in My Dream Last Night?
From Horae Canonicae: Prime

From Horae Canonicae: Prime

Written in English by W.H. Auden

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Simultaneously, as soundlessly,
Spontaneously, suddenly
As, at the vaunt of the dawn, the kind
Gates of the body fly open
To its world beyond, the gates of the mind,
The horn gate and the ivory gate
Swing to, swing shut, instantaneously
Quell the nocturnal rummage
Of its rebellious fronde, ill-favored,
Ill-natured and second-rate,
Disenfranchised, widowed and orphaned
By an historical mistake:
Recalled from the shades to be a seeing being,
From absence to be on display,
Without a name or history I wake
Between my body and the day.

[…]

Published April 8, 2020
Excerpted from W.H. Auden, The Shield of Achilles, Faber & Faber, London 1955
© 1955 Faber & Faber

From Horae Canonicae: Prima

Written in English by W.H. Auden


Translated into Italian by Vanni Bianconi

Simultaneamente, sì silenzioso,
spontaneamente, improvviso
come, al vanto dell’alba, le benevole
porte del corpo s’aprono
al suo mondo ulteriore, le porte della mente,
la porta di corno e la porta d’avorio
oscillano, si serrano, istantaneamente
soffocano il frugare notturno
delle sue fronde ribelli, disgraziato,
snaturato e scadente,
oltraggiato, reso vedova e orfano
da un errore della storia:
richiamato dall’ombra alla vista,
dall’assenza per venir esposto,
senza un nome o storia mi sveglio
tra il mio corpo ed il giorno.

[…]

Published April 8, 2020
© 2020 Vanni Bianconi


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