BOYS IN FLORENCE

You saw them coming from a hundred countries,
you heard them speak a hundred different languages;
you saw white with red,
you saw black with yellow
work hard,
next to each other,
elbow to elbow,
hands in the mud.
They worked in a city
which wasn't theirs,
they worked for people
that they didn't even know.
Prize was a thank you,
a frugal meal,
a short sleep
in a station wagon,
and work again,
one next to the other,
elbow to elbow,
hands in the mud.

TRAGIC IMPRESSIONS

Water, everywhere;

water, bubbling

filled the cellars;

water, how unstoppable

it covered the green gardens;

water, how overwhelming

he dragged cars;

water, how impetuous

he emptied the shops;

water, which grew

centimeter by centimeter,

from meter to meter.

On a window

a candle went out:

with her I saw, helpless,

two lives extinguished.

Poetry included in the collection "International Fyodor Dostoevsky Prize - poetry" and recited by Alessandro Quasimodo (see video)