torna al sommario

torna alla Biografia

I testi poetici:

CASA GUIDI WINDOW
Parte I
Parte II

POEM FOR GARIBALDI

POEM FOR GARIBALDI

di Elizabeth Barrett Browning

He bent his head upon his breast
Wherein his lion-heart lain sick:
“Perhaps we are not ill-repaid;
Perhaps this is not a true test;
Perhaps this was not a foul trick;
Perhaps none wronged, and none betrayed

Garibaldi pensa dubbioso a ciò che finora a fatto per riunire l'Italia, i dubbi interessano e turbano il suo animo.

“Perhaps the people’s vote which here

United there may disunite,

And both be lawful as they think;

Perhaps a patriot, statesman, dear

For chartering nations, can with right
Disfranchise those who hold the ink

Le considerazioni non interessano solo il suo operato, ma anche la reazione delle persone, non è convinto che esse lo possano sostenere come hanno fatto fino ad ora.

“Perhaps no more than this we meant,

When up at Austria’s guns we flew,

And quenched them with a cry apiece,

Italia!-Yet a dream was sent…

The little house my father knew,
The olives and the palms of Nice.”

Il pensiero di Garibaldi ora esamina giustizia e furbizia nella società.

“Perhaps no more than this we meant,

When up at Austria’s guns we flew,

And quenched them with a cry apiece,

Italia!-Yet a dream was sent…

The little house my father knew,
The olives and the palms of Nice.”

Garibaldi pensa alla futura possibile unione dell'Italia dopo la vittoria sugli Austriaci.

He paused and drew his sword out slow,

Then pored upon the blade intent,

As if to read some written thing;

While many murmured,-“He will go

In that despairing sentiment
And break his sword before the King.”

Il suo compito ora è convincere della vittoria gli indecisi per unirli a sè nell'impresa.

He poring still upon the blade,

His large lid quivered, something fell.

“Perhaps” he said, ”I was not born

With such fine brains to treat and trade,-

And if woman knew it well,
Her falsehood only meant her scorn.

Garibaldi riflette ora sulle sue inclinazioni e sulle sue attitudini.

Yet through Varese’s cannon-smoke

My eye saw clear: men feared this man

At Como, where this sword could seal

Death’s protocol with every stroke:

And now …the drop there scarcely can
Impair the keenness of the steel.

Garibaldi con la sua particolare personalità riesce a farsi seguire e rispettare dal popolo.

So man and sword may have their use;

And if the soil beneath my foot

In valour’s act is forfeited,

I’ll strike the harder, take my dues

Out nobler, and all loss confute
From ampler heavens above my head.

Garibaldi in questi versi fa trasparire la sua grinta affermando che lui tenterà nella sua impresa fino a quando avrà forza.

“My King, King Victor, I am thine!

So much Nice-dust as what I am

(To make our Italy) must cleave.

Forgive that”. Forward with a sign he went
You’ve seen the telegram?

Garibaldi è disposto ad allearsi con il re per riunire la sua amata Italia.