"LANDSCAPE II The hill whitens to the stars, of bare earth;/ one would see the thieves up there. Among the banks of the bottom/ the rows are all in shadow. Up there, since there is/ and it is land of those who do not suffer, no one goes up:/ here in the humidity, with the excuse of going for truffles,/ they enter the vineyard and plunder the grapes./ My old man found two bunches thrown/ among the plants and tonight he grumbles. The vineyard is already scarce:/ day and night in the humidity, only leaves grow./ Among the plants one sees the bare earth to the sky/ which steals the sun from them during the day. Up there the sun burns/ all day and the earth is lime: one sees it even in the dark./ There no leaves grow, the strength goes all into the grapes./ My old man leaning on a stick in the wet grass,/ has a convulsive hand: if the thieves come tonight,/ he jumps among the rows and breaks their backs./ They are people to do them a beastly service,/ because they don't go to count it. Every now and then he raises his head/ sniffing in the air: it seems to him that in the dark arrives/ a hint of earthy smell, dug truffles./ On the slopes up there, which stretch to the sky,/ there is no gloom of trees: the grape drags on the ground,/ so heavy it is. No one can hide there:/ one distinguishes at the top the patches of trees/ black and sparse. If they had the vineyard up there,/ my old man would keep watch from home, in bed,/ with the rifle pointed. Here, at the bottom, not even the rifle/ is useful to him, because inside the darkness there is only foliage."
Created by d'Araprì