Laura Ruggeri

ONE SEPTEMBER NIGHT  -  FRANCO FORTINI (1955)

Translated by Laura Ruggeri

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One September night

when hardened women with raucous voices and scorched hair

loosened up in whitewashed villages

and the sand cleaned clattering mess-tins in the fountains ,

under a copper moon on the violet road of Lodi

I saw two workers , three girls dancing

while phosphorus bombs left an inky trail on the asphalt

one September night

when fear howled with joy

when every woman talked to the soldiers

scattered among the vine rows

and through the cities ran only  the sour wine

of songs and everything was possible

around the dim fire of the radio

and those who would die on country roads tomorrow

drank from the dribbling iron pipes of the station

or slept on straw hugging their rifles

when summer turned to ash

from Ventimiglia to Salerno

and nothing else was left

and we were free

 to run away, to ignore or cry

one September night