Montesano Manque.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
Montesano Manque.(Translation) .
Avec des maisons si suspendues et isolees
le chemin qui mene la si on le trouvait
serait dangereux et terreux. La poussiere couvrirait
le boeuf par lequel on conduit et on ne pouvait faire face
au regard fixe paysan qui vous perce noir. Des oiseaux
pourraient etre chez eux mais la pluie se sentirait rejete
dans le drain rapide et le vent s'eloignerait
vite sans un ami aux etoiles. Dans
le couvent elles doivent dire vraiment ces prieres.
On ne trouve jamais le chemin. On passe le cimetiere,
militaire, brittanique, de la deuxieme guerre mondiale et vaste.
Votre automobile tombera en panne peut-etre et le garage
ou on va n'aura pas de pieces de rechange. L'hotel
ou on doit loger peut avoir des photos carte-postales,
du materiel du point profond, des tombes tout pres
et lointaines, aussi claires, la ville claire
qui est la tombe de quelqu'un. Les villes sont des choses mauvaises qui arrivent,
un mediocrite qu'on a elu maire, un whip ordonne.
Quand votre auto est reparee on conduit au nord
en restant sur la grande route, vous disant
que si vous etiez alle il n'aura pas ete amusant.
Les villes des montagnes sont belles, suspendues isolees
comme cela, vibrant de lumiere. Mais restez dans une d'elles
deux heures. On tapote son auto en disant
allons, mon ami On conduit hors de la n'entendant jamais
la fille meurtrie dans le couvent qui s'ecrie
emmenez-moi avec vous. Je ne suis point religieuse.
1969.
-'Montesano Unvisited'.Richard Hugo (1923-1982) .
While Richard Hugo is not as well known as other American poets, he belongs in the first rank for just a few of his poems, in my opinion. Montesano is a town in southern Italy, in the Appennines.
Driving around, he thinks of stopping at Montesano, but the road is earthen and there is dirt and dust everywhere. He thinks that they really must mean those prayers in the convent. He never finds the road, but passes a vast military cemetery. He thinks his car may break down and the garage will have no parts. 'Towns are bad things happening'.
His car fixed, he drives on north, thinking it would have been no fun there, even though 'Mountain towns are lovely, hung away/like that'.
They throb with light but get boring after two hours. He pats his car and says 'let's go friend'. He drives away never hearing the hurt girl in the convent screaming 'take me with you. I am not a nun'.
The last line echoes the earlier one about praying in the convent and is highly emotional. If a girl did not have a vocation, the convent would seem like a prison in which she is trapped. So she wants the stranger to take her with him.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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8/29/2026 5:59:38 AM # rel_20260827T145718Z_a0f1bd3
Suspended and isolated houses are taken into account. The path that leads in dangerous way is thought provoking. Without a friend the stars move ahead. Prayers should be beautifully conveyed. An interesting poem is excellently penned...10
You are the only one who noticed this long, analytical poem by Hugo. Good on you. There is the prayer in the convent in Montesano, Italy, a Catholic country. but what pathos at the end-a girl feeling trapped in the convent and wanting to escape in a stranger's car. The question of religious vocations in the Catholic church is put under the microscope in 'Montesano Unvisited'. Not all priests and nuns are happy in the presbytery or convent, while others are most content with religious life.