Salvatore Quasimodo Poems

You should not have
ripped out your image
taken from us, from the world,
a portion of beauty.
...

Tindari, I know you
mild between broad hills, overhanging the waters
of the god’s sweet islands.
Today, you confront me
and break into my heart.
...

There is still the wind that I remember
firing the manes of horses, racing,
slanting, across the plains,
the wind that stains and scours the sandstone,
...

Everyone stands alone at the heart of the world
pierced by a ray of sunlight,
and suddenly it is evening.
...

You are still the one with the stone and the sling,
Man of my time. You were in the cockpit,
With the malevolent wings, the meridians of death,
...

Where Messina lay
violet upon the waters, among the mangled wires
and rubble, you walk along the rails
and switches in your islanders'
...