Sereno was written expressly for the Bowers-Fado Duo, commissioned through the Roger Shapiro Foundation. The piece is dedicated to my friend Zakiya Hanafi, who recommended Ungaretti’s marvellous poem, and who made the English translation.

Sereno

Dopo tanta
nebbia
a una
a una
si svelano
le stelle

Respiro
il fresco
che mi lascia
il colore del cielo

Mi riconosco
immagine
passeggera

Presa in un giro
Immortale.

– Giuseppe Ungaretti (1918)

///

Clear Skies

After so much
fog
one
by one
the stars
unveil themselves.

I breathe in
the freshness
that the colour
of the sky
passes on to me.

I recognize myself
as a passing
image

Caught in an immortal
orbit.

– translation: Zakiya Hanafi (2019)
reprinted with permission of Dr. Hanafi