Poem

Giampiero Neri

Side by side

You could but take the stairway

You could but take the stairway
and run up
until the steps became heavy,
almost still,
then the dream came to a stop
right when you were about to be grabbed.

© Translation: 2009, Ron Banerjee
From: Natural Theater. Selected Poems 1976–2009 by Giampiero Neri
Publisher: Chelsea Editions, New York, 2009

You could but take the stairway

Niets restte dan de trappen op te gaan
en rennend te bestijgen
totdat de passen aldoor zwaarder werden.
Ze stonden bijna stil,
totdat de droom ineens werd onderbroken
op ’t punt dat ze gegrepen zouden worden.

Non restava che imboccare la scala
e salire correndo
finché i passi diventavano pesanti
erano quasi fermi,
allora il sogno si interrompeva
proprio sul punto di essere afferrati.

Giampiero Neri

(Italy, 1927)

Giampiero Neri (the pseudonym of Giampietro Pontiggia) was born in Erba, in the province of Como, in 1927. He lives in Milan. His life has been marked by tragic events – the death of his father, who was killed when Giampiero was sixteen, the suicide of a sister in her twenties – which appear, however, only indirectly in his poetry. A bank employee, he has cultivated entomological and literary i...

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Poems of Giampiero Neri

You could but take the stairway

You could but take the stairway
and run up
until the steps became heavy,
almost still,
then the dream came to a stop
right when you were about to be grabbed.

© 2009, Ron Banerjee
From: Natural Theater. Selected Poems 1976–2009 by Giampiero Neri
Publisher: 2009, Chelsea Editions, New York

You could but take the stairway

You could but take the stairway
and run up
until the steps became heavy,
almost still,
then the dream came to a stop
right when you were about to be grabbed.

© 2009, Ron Banerjee
From: Natural Theater. Selected Poems 1976–2009 by Giampiero Neri
Publisher: 2009, Chelsea Editions, New York