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Poem

Aldo Nove

GOODBYE MY TWENTIETH CENTURY (I)

A forest, evolving blue
inside the dream. There is where I used to go 
as a child, with those trees and oceans 
washing through me, ruffling their leaves
and fish. Where there used to be the deep blue
of abysses upside down, I advanced
in my white pyjamas. Around me,
the twentieth century, and I didn’t always die,
I did not die at all.
 

Addio mio novecento (I)

Addio mio novecento (I)

Una foresta che s’inoltra azzurra
nel sogno. Lí è che andavo da bambino,
in quell’entrare dentro me di alberi
e oceani, scompigliandone le foglie
e i pesci. Dove c’era il blu profondo
d’abissi sottosopra io avanzavo
con il pigiama bianco. C’era attorno
il Novencento e non morivo sempre,
per niente che morivo
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GOODBYE MY TWENTIETH CENTURY (I)

A forest, evolving blue
inside the dream. There is where I used to go 
as a child, with those trees and oceans 
washing through me, ruffling their leaves
and fish. Where there used to be the deep blue
of abysses upside down, I advanced
in my white pyjamas. Around me,
the twentieth century, and I didn’t always die,
I did not die at all.
 

GOODBYE MY TWENTIETH CENTURY (I)

A forest, evolving blue
inside the dream. There is where I used to go 
as a child, with those trees and oceans 
washing through me, ruffling their leaves
and fish. Where there used to be the deep blue
of abysses upside down, I advanced
in my white pyjamas. Around me,
the twentieth century, and I didn’t always die,
I did not die at all.
 
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère