I'll tell thee
everything you can,
there's little to relate
(L. Carroll, through. . .VIII)
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legenda
Petronii saturarum libri = sat.
Lewis Carroll, Alice's adventures in Wonderland = advent.
Lewis Carroll, Through the looking-glass and what Alice found there = through. . .
the author thanks Liliana Lo Giudice and Rosa Maria Costa
Autumn frosts have slain July. . .
(through. . .XII)
dies. . .nihil est –
dum versas te,
nox fit
[mancu agghiorna ca' scura,
mancu u tempu i' nasciri
ca t'addumannanu u cuntu. . .
avissimu a pigghiari
strati ca un canusciemu]
the day. . . is the slightest thing –
just one little move
and the night has fallen
[darkness appeares when sun has just risen,
at birth a price is asked to pay –
it'd be better to search for unknown ways]
". . .it's marked out just like a large chess-board!
It's a great huge game of chess that's being
played – all over the world. . ."
(through.
. .II)
nos non pluris sumus
quam bullae
[accussì si rici:
"siemu nuddu
ammischiatu cu' niente
personne mélangé au néant"]
human beings
are only bubbles
[so it's said:
"nobody we are,
mixed with nothingness"]
"it's exactly like a riddle with no answer!"
(through. . .IX)
Qui de nobis?
longe venio, late venio –
solve me
["dimmi cu' firria ni tutt'i parti. . ."
pi farinni i cianchi
di quantu siemu cose inutili
un'na ghiri a nudda banna]
which of us?
I'm going far and wide,
solve me
["tell me who can go everywhere" –
to laugh at our nothingness,
you needn't go somewhere else]
"Up above the world you fly
like a tea-tray in the Sky "
(advent. VII )
dicam tibi
qui de nobis currit
et de loco non movetur,
qui de nobis crescit et minor fit
["dimmi chi un'havi pieri e fa a' via. . ."
"biancu palummu
russu cavaleri
e cinqu chill'accumpagna"]
I'll tell you
which of us running
stays at his own place,
which of us getting smaller grows taller
["tell me who has no legs and shows the way"
"white pigeon,
red knight
with a following five"]
dreaming as the days go by
dreaming as the summers die
(through. . .XII)
cum sciamus nos morituros esse,
quare non vivamus?
[picchi "rietteru u viscuotto
a chi un su sapi arrusicare. .&mbsp;."
(ma ognunu avi a so' stidda
chacun a son étoile)]
we know the end;
why don't we really live?
[to the toothless
the harder biscuit is given
(but everyone follows his own way)]
echoes fade and memories die
(through. . .XII)
haesimus calentes
et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis
errantes animas
[s'attisaru e s'arricriaru
ils s'amusèrent: sevsinler. . .]
anxiously we embraced each other,
some life breathes to infuse
into our mouths, everywhere
[stirred up, they were satisfied:
let's them love. . .]
The sun was shining on the sea. . .
(through. . .IV)
Iam plena Phoebe candidum extulerat
iubar
minora ducens
astra radianti face
[e immienzu u' scuru
s'addumaru un mantu ri stiddi]
a full moon was carrying a pure light,
hand in hand with her sparkling stars
[the darkness lit up, mantled with stars]
"Only I do hope it's my dream, and not Red King's!
I don't like belonging to another person's dream"
(through.
. .VIII)
animus quod perdidit optat
atque in praeterita
se totus immagine
versat
[picchì vulemu siempre
"a vutti china e a mugghieri ammriaca"]
we love only what is lost
gathering our thoughts only
on the lost imagery
[we always want the brimful glass
served by a drunken maid-wife* ]
* "You can't eat your cake and have it"
"your Red Majesty, shouldn't purr
so loud" Alice said. . .
(through. . .XII)
grex agit in scena mimum:
pater ille vocatur,
filius hic, nomen divitis ille tenet –
mox ubi ridendas inclusit pagina
partes,
vera redit facies,
adsimulata perit
["pupi siemu. . .", duopo u' babbiu,
tuttu ni passa supra ]
here is the life comedy:
someone is called the father,
someone else the son, or the rich man –
but after the funny acts,
here is finally the real performance face,
fiction is finished forever
[we 're maskers. . .but at the end
everything passes over us]