Giuseppe Ungaretti: San Martino del Carso

Of these houses
there remain
only a few
pieces of wall

Of so many
who resembled me
there remains
even less

But in my heart
each has a cross

My heart is the most
broken country

Lone Tree Gully, August 27, 1916

San Martino del Carso

Di queste case
non è rimasto
che qualche
brandello di muro

Di tanti
che mi corrispondevano
non è rimasto
neppure tanto

Ma nel cuore
nesssuna croce manca

È il mio cuore
il paese più straziato

Valloncello dell’Albero Isolato il 27 agosto 1916

Geoffrey Brock

Geoffrey Brock

Geoffrey Brock is the author of two volumes of poetry, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of numerous books of poetry and prose from Italian, most recently Last Dream by Giovanni Pascoli and Allegria by Giuseppe Ungaretti. He teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Translation at the University of Arkansas.
Geoffrey Brock

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Author: Geoffrey Brock

Geoffrey Brock is the author of two volumes of poetry, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of numerous books of poetry and prose from Italian, most recently Last Dream by Giovanni Pascoli and Allegria by Giuseppe Ungaretti. He teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Translation at the University of Arkansas.