Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Valerio Magrelli

The Embrace

As you rest beside me, I lean over
and by your face I catch hold of sleep
the way one wick
catches hold of another wick\'s flame.
There, two night lights, flicker
as fire is passed, and sleep takes hold.
But in that hold thunders
the basement furnace.
Down there a fossile nature burns,
Prehistory is ablaze, and dead
submerged peat ferments, and flares
into my radiators.
In a dark halo of heating oil
our little room is a nest warmed
by organic residues, by bonfires, by scum.
And we wicks are the two tongues
of that single Paleozoic torch.

DE OMARMING

Je slaapt naast mij en ik buig me zo
dat ik dichtbij je gezicht lig en
de slaap vat zoals de kaarsenpit vuur
neemt van een andere kaarsenpit.
En de twee lichten blijven staan terwijl
de vlam langsgaat en de slaap zich inspint.
Maar terwijl hij draden trekt
trilt de verwarmingsketel in de kelder.
Daar onder brandt fossiele natuur,
beneden vlamt de prehistorie, dode
ondergedompelde turf, gefermenteerd,
ontbrandt in mijn centrale verwarming.
In een donker aureool van stookolie
is de kleine kamer een nest verwarmd
door organisch afval, brandstapels, rioolvocht.
En wij, kaarsenpitten, zijn de twee tongen
van deze ene paleozoïsche toorts.

L’abbraccio

Tu dormi accanto a me così io mi inchino
e accostato al tuo viso prendo sonno
come fa lo stoppino
da uno stoppino che gli passa il fuoco.
E i due lumini stanno
mentre la fiamma passa e il sonno fila.
Ma mentre fila vibra
la caldaia nelle cantine.
Laggiù si brucia una natura fossile,
là in fondo arde la Preistoria, morte
torbe sommerse, fermentate,
avvampano nel mio termosifone.
In una buia aureola di petrolio
la cameretta è un nido riscaldato
da depositi organici, da roghi, da liquami.
E noi, stoppini, siamo le due lingue
di quell\'unica torcia paleozoica.
Close

The Embrace

As you rest beside me, I lean over
and by your face I catch hold of sleep
the way one wick
catches hold of another wick\'s flame.
There, two night lights, flicker
as fire is passed, and sleep takes hold.
But in that hold thunders
the basement furnace.
Down there a fossile nature burns,
Prehistory is ablaze, and dead
submerged peat ferments, and flares
into my radiators.
In a dark halo of heating oil
our little room is a nest warmed
by organic residues, by bonfires, by scum.
And we wicks are the two tongues
of that single Paleozoic torch.

The Embrace

As you rest beside me, I lean over
and by your face I catch hold of sleep
the way one wick
catches hold of another wick\'s flame.
There, two night lights, flicker
as fire is passed, and sleep takes hold.
But in that hold thunders
the basement furnace.
Down there a fossile nature burns,
Prehistory is ablaze, and dead
submerged peat ferments, and flares
into my radiators.
In a dark halo of heating oil
our little room is a nest warmed
by organic residues, by bonfires, by scum.
And we wicks are the two tongues
of that single Paleozoic torch.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère