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forbidden fruit

5/26/2015

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I have heard, from a very reliable source,
That in Italy, stealing fruit is a cherished pastime.
But what I want to know is this: if the grapes
Have already been pressed into the wine bottle,
Is it still an acceptable form of theft?
Because I would much rather steal
A swallow of wine from the bottom of the bottle
Than a greenhouse full of ripe raw green grapes.
But I would prefer, even more than that,
To steal a single sip of wine
From off your lips.
But is that the kind of theft that would get me slapped
In jail? Let’s say, on another note,
If I visit the hillside where your fruit trees

Are swaying in the wind, and I drink in
The sight of them,
Is that theft by looking? Am I stealing
Away beauty that does not belong to me?
And even if the answer is yes,
What else can I do with my dreams?
Put them in cupboards and forget them?
Fruit that goes unpicked is soon forgotten.
I would rather take what lovely things

I can get my hands on. Oh, the ways
by which I live to cheat the world!

Isaiah Pittman

Translation into Italian by Rosalind Resnick

Ho sentito parlare, da una persona molto affidabile,
Che in Italia rubare la frutta e’ un passatempo preferito.
Ma io vorrei sapere questo: Se le uve
Sono state premute
Nella bottiglia di vino,
Sarebbe ancora una forma legittima di furto?
Perché io preferirei rubare
Un sorso di vino dal fondo della bottiglia
Che da una serra pieno di uve verdi, crude e mature.
Ma io preferirei anche più di questo
Rubare un solo sorso di vino
Dalle tue labbra.
Ma è questo il tipo di furto che mi manderà in prigione?
Diciamo in un'altra nota
Se io visitassi la collina dove i tuoi alberi da frutta stanno ondeggiando nel vento
E io bevessi la loro vista,
Sarebbe il furto da guardare?
Vuol dire che io sto rubando la bellezza che non è la mia?
Anche se la risposta sia "si,"
Che altro potrei fare con i miei sogni?
Metterli nei cassetti e dimenticarli?
La frutta non raccolta e’ presto dimenticata.
Io vorrei prendere le cose belle
Sulle quale potrei mettere le mani.
O, tutti i modi
In cui io vivo per imbrogliare il mondo!


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