The atrium turned cold
while I waited for you to come.
Then there you are.
You leaned over to kiss me.
On my cheek it arrives, rapid and distracted.
I try to catch your eyes with the mine
but your gaze evades me.
One of us says:
"we'll write each other"
but whoever it is, is lying.
We won't write.
We won't meet again.
For you I have already began to fade now.
And you, for me, will always remain here,
even when you return home,
here,
framed in this grey and blue,
frightened heart,
heart nourished to abandoned from the love of her,
heart nailed to her coffin.
Behind me the bus groans and vibrates to depart.
I think that if you had a second,
another second more,
everything would be clearer, warmer,
I could speak you,
maybe you could explain....

Maybe not. While the bus started out lazily
towards the airport
I told the sky:
"I'll come back. And it will be like before."
But I still lied:
the clouds scampered.
Already it was no longer the same. (translation: Arlene Ang)

L'atrio e' diventato freddo
mentre aspettavo che tu arrivassi.
Poi sei li'.
Ti chini per darmi un bacio.
Alla mia guancia arriva rapido e distratto.
Tento di fermare i tuoi occhi nei miei
ma il tuo sguardo mi sfugge.
Uno di noi dice:
"Ci scriveremo"
ma chiunque sia sta mentendo.
Non ci scriveremo.
Non ci rivedremo.
Per te ho gia' cominciato a scolorire adesso.
E tu, per me, rimarrai sempre qui,
anche quando tornerai a casa,
qui,
incorniciato in questo grigio e azzurro,
cuore spaventato,
cuore nutrito a abbandonato dall'amore di lei,
cuore inchiodato alla sua bara.
Il pullman dietro di me brontola e freme per partire.
Io penso che se avessi un secondo,
un altro secondo in piu',
tutto sarebbe piu' chiaro, piu' caldo,
io ti potrei parlare,
tu forse potresti spiegare...

Ma forse no. Mentre il pullman si avviava pigro
verso l'aeroporto
ho detto al cielo:
"Ritornero'. E sara' ancora come prima."
Ma ho mentito ancora:
le nuvole correvano.
Non era gia' piu' lo stesso. -- Gabriella Gavioli.

Author Bio

Gavioli, born in Milan, currently attends the Faculty of Classical Arts in Pavia and is also taking a course on Techniques of Narration at the Holden School of Turin. She is part of the editorial board of "Il Foglio Clandestino" where she has her column, "Rito e Mito".

Arlene Ang

I am presently living in Manila, Philippines and working freelance. My poems have appeared in LiNQ, Zuzu's Petals Quarterly, Black Bear Review and Poetry in Motion.

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