gioco – nonsolobiancoenero

Playthings

Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning.
I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig.
I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour.
Perhaps you glance at me and think, “What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!”
Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies.
I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver.
With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain.
In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.

_________________________

Francesco Tristano – Toccata, 14 gen 2022

Voglio donarti qualcosa, bambino mio, perché stiamo andando alla deriva nella corrente del mondo. Le nostre vite si divideranno, il nostro amore sarà perduto per sempre. Ma io non sono così sciocco da sperare di poter comprare il tuo cuore con i miei doni. Giovane è la tua vita, lungo il tuo cammino, l’amore che ti offriamo lo bevi d’un sorso, poi ti volti e corri lontano da noi. Hai il tuo gioco e i compagni per esso. Che male c’è se non hai tempo e pensiero per noi? Noi, in verità, avremo abbastanza tempo nella vecchiaia per contare i giorni trascorsi, e serbare nei nostri cuori ciò che le nostre mani avranno perduto per sempre. Il fiume corre rapido nel suo canto, travolge tutte le barriere. Ma la montagna resta e ricorda, e veglia col suo amore.

(Traduzione di Maurizio Lipparini)

The Gift

I want to give you something, my child, for we are drifting in the stream of the world.
Our lives will be carried apart, and our love forgotten.
But I am not so foolish as to hope that I could buy your heart with my gifts.
Young is your life, your path long, and you drink the love we bring you at one draught and turn and run away from us.
You have your play and your playmates. What harm is there if you have no time or thought for us!
We, indeed, have leisure enough in old age to count the days that are past, to cherish in our hearts what our hands have lost for ever.
The river runs swift with a song, breaking through all barriers.
But the mountain stays and remembers, and follows her with his love.

__________________________________