"METAMORFOSI" BY ANTONIO LONARDO

Tonight I am proud to be able to introduce you to a Lonardo poem which I find particularly touching. It appears here with Antonio's kind permission, along with my own translation. Here is Antonio's 2007 introduction to the poem [also with my translation]:

"La lirica 'METAMORFOSI', dedicata a mia figlia Lili, adottata 14 anni fa in Romania, è la sintesi dei cambiamenti avvenuti ed osservati, momento dopo momento, in lei : si è passati da una situazione di “unicità” bianca, quasi senza valori intellettuali e di altro genere( pangea di linguaggio, pensiero, vita), ad una compiutezza rivelatasi con il matrimonio,celebrato solennemente il 20 luglio 2006, frutto di un progresso enorme in tutti i campi.

La lirica è divisa in due momenti diversi: le prime tre strofe indicano la fase negativa, preesistente all’adozione; le tre ultime strofe indicano i campi (linguaggio, pensiero, vita) in cui sono stati evidenti i passaggi esistenziali migliorativi, fino alla compiutezza attuale (lessico in fiorente espansione; la salita verso l’ignoto positivo; il romanzo di un’anima felice).

The poem 'METAMORFOSI', dedicated to my daughter Lili who was adopted in Romania 14 years ago, is a summary of the changes which occurred in her and which I observed, moment by moment: they reflect her journey from a situation of empty "uniqueness", in which she was almost without intellectual concepts [a linguistic, mental and day to day "Pangea"] to a completeness culminating in her marriage on 20th July 2006, the result of enormous progress in all areas of her life.

The poem is divided into two sections: the first three verses deal with the negative phase which already existed before the adoption; the last three verses deal with the areas [language, thought, life] in which existential, healing progress was made, leading to Lili's present sense of completeness [her ever-widening vocabulary; her reach into positive but unknown territory; the story of a happy soul]."

The poem has a special resonance for me because, although my own adoption took place under very different circumstances, I can identify with Lili's journey towards completeness and with the idea of adoption giving one a chance. The poem also reminds me of some words of Helen Keller's about her own acquisition of language and I shall quote them here in English and Italian [source: Wikiquote]:

"Children who hear acquire language without any particular effort; the words that fall from others' lips they catch on the wing, as it were, delightedly, while the little deaf child must trap them by a slow and often painful process. But whatever the process, the result is wonderful. Gradually from naming an object we advance step by step until we have traversed the vast distance between our first stammered syllable and the sweep of thought in a line of Shakespeare.

I bambini che sono in grado di sentire imparano a parlare senza particolare sforzo. Catturano al volo le parole che cadono dalle labbra altrui, così come sono, felicemente, mentre i piccoli bambini sordi devono intrappolarle attraverso un processo lento e spesso doloroso. Ma qualunque sia questo processo, il risultato è meraviglioso. Gradualmente, partendo dal dare un nome ad un oggetto, avanziamo un passo alla volta, finché abbiamo colmato la vasta distanza fra la nostra prima sillaba balbettata e l'ampiezza del pensiero di un verso di Shakespeare."

Helen Keller


METAMORFOSI by Antonio Lonardo

Era una pangea
il suo linguaggio:
concisa sintesi
di un mondo sconosciuto,
misterioso labirinto,
edenico spazio
riservato ad eletti.

Era una pangea
il suo pensiero:
una terra senza confini
di luoghi, tempi, immagini,
inscindibile unicum
di visi indistinti
e meridiani senza clessidra.

Era una pangea
la sua vita:
sorvolato tormento
di calendari trascorsi,
grumo di dolori
vissuti nell’ansia
di una forte rivincita…

È un lessico
in fiorente espansione
di versatili pagine:
intense esperienze
finemente rilegate
in crescendi dialoghi
di occhi incrociati.

È la salita
ripidamente inebriante ,
quasi salto verso l’ignoto,
per conoscere il mistero:
intuizione e lettura
del libro aperto
sulla pelle del mondo.

È il romanzo
di un’anima felice,
sazia di orizzonti raggiunti:
puntini fosforescenti,
su linea protesa
di un mosaico luminoso
arduo a costruire.

METAMORPHOSIS

It was a Pangea
her language:
the concise synthesis
of an unknown world,
the mysterious labyrinth,
an Edenic space
reserved for the élite.

It was a Pangea
her mind:
a land without confines
of place, of time, of images,
an indissoluble unicum
of indistinct faces
and meridians with no hourglass.

It was a Pangea
her life:
the defeated torment
of elapsed agendas,
lumps of pain
lived through in the anguish
of forceful winning…

It is a lexis
in blooming growth
of flexible pages:
intense experiences
finely bound
to increasing dialogues
between engaged eyes.

It is the ascent
that is steeply intoxicating
a leap, almost, into the unknown,
to understand the mystery:
intuition and reading
of the open book
on the skin of the world.

It is the story
of a happy soul,
content with her gained horizons,
phosphorescent points,
on the outstretched line
of a shining mosaic
so hard to build.

- From Le Stagioni del Cuore [Modica, 2008] and Il Profumo del Pensiero [Edizioni Nuovi Poeti, 2009].

Translator's notes:
[1] The word linguaggio in Italian does not refer to "language" in general but the faculty of speech or a particular kind of language, such as sign language, or an element of language, such as jargon. After much thought I translated it as "language" in the poem.
[2] Antonio Lonardo and I had much discussion over whether to keep the word Pangea or use a word which would render the idea. In the end we decided to keep the classical reference. Note that capitalisation is not required in Italian whereas it is in English.

Today I was delighted to meet the illustrators of the covers of Antonio's collections, Le Stagioni del Cuore and Il Profumo del Pensiero:

Antonio Lonardo with his former student, Giusy Asta, who illustrated the cover of Le Stagioni del Cuore, and me. We are pictured in Giusy's shop, Estro, a treasure trove of pretty, personalised works of art all made by Giusy - well worth a visit if you are in Modica.

Antonio at home with his niece, Melinda Adamo, who illustrated the cover of Il Profumo del Pensiero, and me.