The Answer, my Daughter
Variations on Bob Dylan
If actually Bob asks – how long
“how long you need to be a man”
you haven’t got an answer and it’s not true
it is blowing in
the wind – you just lost it
in spite of the time you still had
to chase the wind itself and make it yours
(now try to force your
fate…
Forever young – as long as you’re next to me
I’ll follow the apprenticeship of your years
and sooner or
later I’ll be ready to give you
the horizon that doesn’t answer to you yet
just like a woman, know, my daughter
that it’s not easy to alter the course of events
with your wiles
if a hostile world appears
before your eyes, those of a growing child,
you only have to wait
you only have to believe – in yourself
A Smile a Kiss a Caress
The poet is a strange merchant
who auctions his merchandise
for a smile a kiss a caress
– and sometimes gives it away for nothing
And wandering he accepts a thousand invitations
walking along the farthest roads
bringing with him the words – his own words
– that maybe another will know how to repeat
He is always ready – if needed – to acknowledge
that his world is limited – but it’s possible
that his world could be the most inviting
for those left without a home
The Train of Life
Passengers we’re all upon life’s train
feigning, distracting, what may be the case,
avoid knowing ourselves – and oft at times
afraid of the discovery of ourselves
in others who’re like us - just sheer mirrors
in which we then see our faces crack –
difficult fragments to reconstruct
the human fact we’re always travelling
just passing from one station to another
towards a destined place now a mirage
a screen for the impotence of arrival.
Author’s Bionote:
*Giuseppe Napolitano was born in Minturno (12.02.1949) and lives in Formia, Lazio, Italy. Married to Irene Vallone, poet and actor. They have a daughter, Gabriella. A Liberal Arts graduate of Rome University in 1972, with a thesis in surrealistic French theatre, Giuseppe Napolitano taught Italian literature and Latin for 33 years at the high school level. Since 2006 he has been publishing a series of poetry booklets and essays, as well as publishing various known and emerging Italian authors, and translations of Mediterranean poets. In 2008 he founded the cultural Association "La stanza del poeta" through which for many years he organized “Voices of the Mediterranean,” an international Poetry Festival in the southern part of the province of Latina. Among his 112 published books (poetry and essays, translated in several languages): Cuore di sabbia, 1998; Partita, 1999; Alla riva del tempo, 2005; A repentaglio, 2015; Tutte le parole, 2018; Inner grammar, 2020; Approdo, 2020; The beautiful Life, 2023; Shukran, 2023.