Scirocco

E sovra i monti, lontano sugli orizzonti

è lunga striscia color zafferano:

irrompe la torma moresca dei venti,

d'assalto prende le porte grandi

gli osservatori sui tetti di smalto,

batte alle facciate da mezzogiorno,

agita cortine scarlatte, pennoni sanguigni, aquiloni,

schiarite apre azzurre, cupole, forme sognate,

i pergolati scuote, le tegole vive

ove acqua di sorgive posa in orci iridati,

polloni brucia, di virgulti fa sterpi,

in tromba cangia androni,

piomba su le crescenze incerte

dei giardini, ghermisce le foglie deserte

e i gelsomini puerili-poi vien pid mite

batte tamburini; fiocchi, nastri. . . .

Ma quando ad occidente chiude l'ale

d'incendio il selvaggio pontificale

e l'ultima gora rossa si sfalda

d'ogni lato sale la notte calda in agguato.

MOBILE UNIVERSO DI FOLATE*

SONIA RAIZISS and ALFREDO DE PALCHI

SIROCCO

And over the mountains, far over the horizons

a long saffron streak:

the moorish swarm of winds breaks in,

takes the great doors by storm

the lookouts there on the enameled roofs,

and from the south batters the facades,

swings the scarlet curtains, the kites, the pennants

red as blood, rakes open the blue clarities,?domes,

dreamed-of forms, excites the arbors, the brilliant

tiles where spring water pauses in rainbow jars,

burns the buds, turns shoots into sticks,

makes trumpets of vestibules,

lunges where timid gardens

burgeon, catches the lonely leaves

and infant jasmines-gentler it comes then

tapping the drums; tassels, streamers . . .

But when in the west the wild pontifical

folds up in flame and the last

channel of red scales off, on all

sides the hot night rises from ambush.

UNSTABLE WORLD

Unstable world of gusty

rays, of hours without color, of perennial

flux, the pomp

of clouds: an instant, and look the changed

forms dazzle, millenniums sway.

And the low door's arch and the worn

sill of too many winters, are a fable in the abrupt

glory of the March sun.