Faithful mother tongue,

I have been serving you.

Every night, I used to set before you little bowls of colors

so you could have your birch, your cricket, your finch

as preserved in my memory.

This lasted many years.

You were my native land; I lacked any other.

I believed that you would also be a messenger

between me and some good people

even if they were few, twenty, ten

or not born, as yet.

Now, I confess my doubt.

There are moments when it seems to me I have squandered my life.

For you are a tongue of the debased,

of the unreasonable, hating themselves

even more than they hate other nations,

a tongue of informers,

a tongue of the confused,

ill with their own innocence.

But without you, who am I?

Only a scholar in a distant country,

a success, without fears and humiliations.

Yes, who am I without you?

Just a philosopher, like everyone else.

I understand, this is meant as my education:

the glory of individuality is taken away,

Fortune spreads a red carpet

before the sinner in a morality play

while on the linen backdropp a magic lantern throws

images of human and divine torture.

Faithful mother tongue,

perhaps after all it’s I who must try to save you.

So I will continue to set before you little bowls of colors

bright and pure if possible,

for what is needed in misfortune is a little order and beauty.