Dido, my sister
Release me,
Dido, from your space of sorrow
Release me,
A beggar on earth,
Who has once glanced at
Treasures untold
Caressed them with greedy eyes
Just to see them gallop away.
With movements
Passed down from
Millennia
I unbraid my feelings
Let them hang down in mourning
Wear dark glasses
Lest passer-bys be swallowed
By my void,
Walk about like a ghost
The mark of Dido
Flashing.
Stop me, sweet sister
Carry away the wood
From my pyre
Blow out the flames
Meant to incinerate
A fleeing hero
With guilt.
Don’t let me
Make a spectacle
Of my severance,
Heal the wound.
Don’t rub the salt of revenge
Into my seething being.
Pina Piccolo (1995)
Cover image, courtesy Italian website La Cooltura.