Those were the days
of hose pipes and a spray
of jets of water
unbridled laughter,
planning a campaign,
secret adventures, always a disaster
waiting at the end.
One had to trust and the other must lead
a roadway to build
across the land of holy fire,
and then came days
when narcissus wondered at
its own image reflected in the eye of the other.
The solar plexus opened and split;
a dagger ran through the body of the water;
the water split into two.
Up and down went the swing.
When one was up the other went down
a ceaseless round of vicissitudes.
our gardens bloomed and withered by turns.
the golden harvest done
of hose pipes and a spray
of jets of water
unbridled laughter,
planning a campaign,
secret adventures, always a disaster
waiting at the end.
One had to trust and the other must lead
a roadway to build
across the land of holy fire,
and then came days
when narcissus wondered at
its own image reflected in the eye of the other.
The solar plexus opened and split;
a dagger ran through the body of the water;
the water split into two.
Up and down went the swing.
When one was up the other went down
a ceaseless round of vicissitudes.
our gardens bloomed and withered by turns.
the golden harvest done
Image Credit : Anna del Vale Marti
“I liked to discover connections like that, especially if they concerned Lila. I traced lines between moments and events distant from one another, I established convergences and divergences. In that period it became a daily exercise: the better off I had been in Ischia, the worse off Lila had been in the desolation of the neighborhood; the more I had suffered upon leaving the island, the happier she had become. It was as if, because of an evil spell, the joy or sorrow of one required the sorrow or joy of the other; even our physical aspect, it seemed to me, shared in that swing.”
Elena Ferrante. L'amica geniale (My Brilliant Friend), 2011. Translated by Ann Goldstein.
Music: Dmitri Shostakovich. Five pieces for two violins and piano. Prelude. Arrangement for 2 cellos: Levon Atovmayan.
Gautier Capuçon and Stéphane Tétreault, cello
Oleksandr Gaydukov, piano
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULECHHzjGU4)
Image by Vivian Maier, undated.
#literature #ferrante #music #shostakovich #cello #piano #photography #maier
