That beach was so beautiful
and so beautiful were its pebbles
all alike and tidy
smooth and clean
worn down by time
by the sea and by the wind.
Strolling was a pleasure
and my eyes
filled up with harmony
until a voice,
plaintive and almost weeping,
broke into my thoughts.
“I'm here, under your feet,
among all the pebbles
I’m the one that’s different from the others
because I didn’t let
the sea and the wind
wear my body smooth.
I want to ask you a favour.
Take me far away,
there’s nowhere here
for those who don't want
to be like the others.
Here everything is beautiful
to your eyes
but for us
forced to be all alike,
with no freedom
we might as well be dead.”
I picked up the pebble
which seemed deformed
and was rough to the touch,
but which my heart already loved.
I took it away
to another beach
where the sea and the wind
were mild
and all the pebbles were different
from one another,
in their forms and colours,
in their voices and thoughts.
I go and see it every day
and mixing them up is impossible
because each one of them

has a different smile.

I have walked
upon the lava of volcanoes
reckless, not caring
if I burned my feet,
I have sunk deep into quicksand
struggling
so that it wouldn’t swallow me up.
I have climbed the steep sides of icebergs,
holding my breath
I have strained to reach the depths of the sea
and from the top of a mountain
I have flung myself, wingless,
but a drop of rain is enough
to make me drown.

There's snow dew
between my fingers now
and I hold a loving kiss
in my hand.
I will bring it to you
wherever you are
and only then
will I open my hand
to let it fly to you
and give you
the same shivers I get
whenever I think of you.

I saw the stars
of the Big Dipper
from the city
and then I went to the seaside,
hoping to see them again
and they were there
waiting for me.
I asked them how they had managed
to get there before me
and they replied
that one must
stay still and steady
if they want to run fast.

I traveled the world
and wore my eyes out
looking for you,
asking the sun
not to set
so I could have more time
and the moon not to sink
so I could keep dreaming of you
and you were here,
right around the corner from home.

I'm tired
of chasing my dreams
on blazing lava beaches,
of fording rivers
and never seeing the other side.
I'm tired
of climbing mountains
that have no peaks
of crossing oceans
aided only by my arms and legs.
But I can’t stop
because if I did,
the dreams would just chase me.

Only now do humans understand
because they can touch it
with their hands.
Look above yourself.
Only now has mankind
discovered a distant black hole
200 million light years away
200
million
light years away
traveling at 300.000 kilometers per second
per 60 seconds
per 60 minutes
per 24 hours
365 times a year
per 200 million years
and this black hole
is big
17 billion times bigger
17
billion times bigger than
our sun.
Now, do you really think
you were put here by chance?

The great drought decimated the animals,
forcing them to survive on only a few drops of water
found here and there,
but one fateful day
a sudden storm
created a huge puddle,
which has become a fountain of life.
An ant is the first to find the fountain
but it has no time to drink
because a monkey orders it to leave.
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
And forces it to run away.
The monkey gets ready to drink
when a dog arrives.
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
The monkey quickly disappears
but the dog doesn’t manage to get anything to drink either
because a wolf approaches.
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
The dog flees
but before the wolf can drink,
a lion interrupts it.
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
So the wolf flees, too
and when the lion is about to drink,
a rhinoceros shouts:
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
Before the rhinoceros can taste the water,
an elephant arrives.
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
The rhinoceros vanishes
and when the elephant
draws its trunk near to the surface of the water,
the ant who first discovered the fountain stops it.
“Go away.
This fountain is mine because I’m the strongest.”
Elephants
don’t like ants
and so the elephant runs away.
When the ant,
even thirstier than before,
is just about to take a sip,
the monkey suddenly appears
and the story starts all over again
with the same animals,
none of which manages to drink any water
and this goes on
for days and days
until every last one of them
dies of thirst.

If I saw you just once a week
I would love you for the rest of my life,
if I saw you twice a week
I would love you for half of my life,
if I saw you every other day
I would love you every other day,
if I saw you every day
every day
I’d think we would be better off
if we just ended things.

Tell me again
about when I was born
and you dyed
your hair pink
so that everybody would know
that you were the happiest
woman in the world.
Tell me
about when you couldn't
stop smiling
because you knew
that I would be there waiting
when you came home from work.
Tell me
about when I called you “Mum”
for the first time
and I fell asleep
saying it over and over,
even the next morning
as soon as I opened my eyes.
Tell me again
about the day they told you
that there was something wrong with me,
that I would never walk
and that I would be
confined to a bed forever.
Tell me
about when I told you
that I didn’t care about the pain
because I always had you with me.
Tell me
about the times when I couldn’t even follow conversations
because of all the things they were giving me
so that I wouldn’t suffer
and the best thing in my life
was being able to look at you
and holding your hand tight.
Tell me again
about all those people
who say that we have to bear
whatever God gives us
but then take pills
for even the mildest headaches.
Tell me again
about the day I made up my mind
that I wasn’t born to spend my life in a bed
and that I was through with waking up
just to keep sleeping.
And tell me just one more time
about when I called you “Mum”
for the last time,
when I fell asleep
and I couldn’t
stop smiling,
taking the warmth of your hand
with me.

Today is a nice day
to die from love.
The moon has your smile
the stars have your light
the sea has your voice
the wind, your breath
the roses, your scent
and I

have you.

It’s good to know
that the sky has no limit
and that it’s impossible
to count the stars,
that questions
can have an answer
and that every answer
will always be a question.
It’s good to know
that in the beginning
there was nothing
but that nothing
is ever a beginning.
It’s wonderful to open my eyes
and to know that You exist,
looking at me
and discovering You within me.
I don't want to know
anything else about You
nor could I pretend to know.
It’s wonderful to feel like
a tiny grain of sand
on your mysterious shores.

Where time never passes
and night is always day
and day is always night,
where clouds
doze on the horizon
and every grain of sand
has the colours of a rainbow,
there the moon dances
chasing the stars
while the wind lifts up
its silver gown.
The lights in the sky
turn the sea into a mirror
into which the stars and the moon plunge
to re-emerge and soar.
I left my eyes
on the Isle of the Dancing Moon
but wherever I go
I take it with me in my heart
so I’ll never forget

to dream.

It won’t be the desert
that burns my core
until a sole tear
trickles out of my eye
and dampens my heart.
It won’t be a thunder storm
that sweeps away my dreams
because just one tree will be enough
to hold me tight
and keep me from flying away
nor will the storm ever be able
to drown my soul
because I have an ocean
full of rocks
to which I can cling
but just one day without you
would be enough
to make me afraid of life.

“There’s no need to rush.
Everything happens in its time.”
The wind said to the leaf
that, still green,
wanted to fly.
And when that time
finally came,
the leaf realized
that it had turned yellow.

“Look! A comet.”
“The comet!
The lover of the stars.
Among the noblest
and most precious
stars of the sky.”
“Why do they call it the lover of the stars?”
“Because the sky is harmony
but there's no harmony
if there's no satisfaction
and the stars
need a lover
who comes to see them
now and then
and if the stars
explode once in a while
that means
that they are unsatisfied
and sad
and tired
and that the comet
hasn’t arrived in time
to love them.
This is why stars shine.
Because they're happy.”
“I want to be a star, too.”

That gust of wind is blowing tonight
bringing with it the scent of the sea
the sweet soft voices of children
who laugh as they play on the shore
and transform that gust of wind
into a harp that lifts my spirits.
I want to listen to the melodies of the sea
written for me on a moonlit night
under a sky streaked with light.
Gems of summer strewn with joy.

“Hold me
for just one more night
before I leave
to become a soldier of war
and don’t cry tonight.
Keep your tears
and sow them
by the lime-tree
in the shade of which
I loved you.
I will come back to pick the shoots
and adorn your hair
before the fruit
of your womb is born.”
Years went by
shoots blossomed
and every day a child
comes and picks a leaf
to put it under his pillow
and fall asleep saying
“Good night, Dad.”

The loves of the past
are like the wind
and when the wind is silent
the leaves sleep.
It’s almost as if they are thinking,
bored
sick of life
but the wind comes and goes
and when the wind blows,
the leaves stir restlessly
and sometimes,
if it weren’t for the branches,
they would disappear along with it.

I learned to walk
on glass floors,
to weigh words
as though they were gold,
to listen to the tiniest sounds
of the hearts of those
who talked to me
but I still haven't learned to fly
as feathers do.

Honesty and justice
will temper selfishness
and the thirst for power.
In our house,
respect heightens fairness and dignity
and in other people’s homes
thwarts our arrogant notion
that we are superior
and entitled
to abuse others.
Tolerance,
which is unnecessary
where there is respect,
can help soothe
insecurities and fears
until respect grows.
Goodness is our final goal
and, inherently, that’s
all mankind needs
to live in peace and harmony,
fully reaping the benefits
of physical and mental pleasure.

Where there's light even at night
and the darkness obscures nothing,
where living isn't frightening
and hopes don't fade away
there is a wood
that keeps all the dreams
given up for good,
left for dead
in the oblivion of resignation
but wishes don't die
they fly away
and turn into lanterns
among those branches that wait for us
where the dark doesn't exist.

The fisherman
casts the net
but when there's no tag
on the line,
he knows
that he didn't cast it properly
or that he cast it
in the wrong place.

You will remain a sunrise
that wakes me up in the morning,
a morning
that fills my day with light.
You will stay with me every day
so we can fall asleep together every night
and every night I will dream of you
waiting for the dawn
so I can wake up next to you again.

Naked is my soul
before a windy sea
when my eyes
look for the quiet
of  a child's sweet slumber.
Naked is my soul
in front of the roar of the lion
when my ears
seek the silence
of green meadows in Spring.
Naked is my soul
in front of the hard trunk of an oak
when my brain
needs the rippling of the clay
and I will dress in rags
because I can't find clothes,
I will cover myself with dreams
because I'm blinded
by hope,
I will be filled with illusions
because I'm full
of love.

What will my eyes do
when the last shadows of youth
leave my warrior's body
defeated,
abandoned
to the cruel assaults of old age?
Will they cry
or will they find the strength
to open themselves to the hope
of a never-hidden desire
to live in The Beyond?
And if The Beyond does exist
the sunset will in any case be
a hard unhappy price
and so will be
the dampening of ourselves within.

Sleepless
is this night with you
because even one moment
snatched from sleep
is a moment
strewn with love.
Tomorrow
our night
will be fog
dispersed in the wind,
the hugs
will be vain regrets,
the moans
far away echoes,
the caresses
sweet memories
and it will be a sleepless night
but it will forever be
a night of love.

A sea-gull
doesn't ask the sea
if it can fly.
It flies free.
A mistake is tolerable
but not freedom.

16.6.'15

The sigh of the wind
doesn't stop
between the branches of the pine
made wet by the sky
and still the birds sing
because winter is far away
and they know that the sun
will soon come back.
I sit and wait
on the hardened sand
for the scent of the sea
to slowly rise
while around the boats
with the reflections of the light
dance and tell
symphonies of Spring.

Unaware protagonist
of my love dream,
I will take with me the secret
of a never-lived story,
hidden between the lines
that I'm now writing for you.
Trusted ink
that knows my heart
to you I secretly tell
my dream of love.

I don't know
where passion will push me,
if it will make me run after the wishes
among steep crevasses
and marshy paths
where sharp rocks
feed on meat
or if it will make me bury my sighs
in burning deserts,
where the heart waits
to fester and melt.

I don't know if it's better
to challenge the oceans
on a ragged draft
mending the sails
with threads of hope
or to let the wind
tear off my skin
suffocating the screams
with rages of aboulia.

I only know
that one cannot water trees
with tears.

23.12.'15

I would do
anything to
take you with
me.

Sleep now please
I will come
back to you
here.

I will be
in your dreams
always with
you.

Keep me for
ever in
side your
heart.

Only this
way I will
never leave
you.

13.6.'15

Would you love me
if I were a stone
that you could throw
off of a cliff,
bloodless, heartless,
unable to shout?
Would you love me
if I were dust
that you could scatter
in the wind,
without hope
of ever seeing it again,
lost forever?
And if I were a silent shadow,
a light off in the dark
or a stick made of feathers?
I'm alive

never forget it.

10.3.'15

I will never shut
my dreams inside a trunk
nor will my ears be deaf
to the desires.
The winds of tomorrow
will blow violently
and the current
will always push
towards the open sea.
But however far I roam
my heart
has never left home.

30.5.'15