MICHELA ZANARELLA

MICHELA ZANARELLA

MOTHER IF YOU ARE IDENTICAL

Mother if you are identical

in the lips and in the soul

then maybe you'll understand that now

I'm trying to learn to love.

I almost fear

to root out the root of pain

of a past that forced me

to immerse myself in the dark.

I think it's right

that I now stop hiding

in the contrary of things

and let the light continue

that I saw in a dream

from the eyes to the ankles.

A light that looks like

to the silence of a man

which has the alphabet of my heart

in the hands.

YESTERDAY'S CHILDREN

Yesterday's children

they could sing the colors of the sky

and run barefoot in the mud.

They were satisfied with home-made bread

and fresh milk.

Yesterday's children

they knew darkness and hunger

they grew up with misery in their eyes

and they never stopped playing

in the streets.

I wonder if now that they have become adults

they wonder if the sun is the same as it used to be

and if the air still knows dust and memories.

I wonder if now they can see life

with the same amazement

and if they still call dreams by name.

LET MY LIPS

Let my lips

never forget the first silence

that you gave me

and that not even the hands

move away from the shores

of your heart.

I will do it

that your look

light on my skin

even when the sun is far away

I will do it

to protect me from pain

orienting the soul

to the places where I loved you.

I will not have to beg heaven

to feel part of me

I'll just rub the wind with your eyelashes

and appoint you

like a faith that resists

beyond the time.

MICHELA ZANARELLA

MICHELA ZANARELLA was born in Cittadella (PD) in 1980. Since 2007 she lives and works in Rome. She published the following collections of poetry: Credo (2006), Awakenings (2008), Life, infinite, havens (2009), Sensuality (2011), Meditations in the feminine (2012), The aesthetics of the beyond (2013), The identity of the sky (2013). In Romania it came out in a bilingual edition the collection Imensele coincidenţe (2015). She is author of fiction and texts for theater. Her poems have been translated into English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Romanian, Serbian, greek, Portuguese, Hindi and Japanese. She has got the Creativity Prize at the International Prize Naji Naaman's 2016. She is ambassador for culture and represents Italy in Lebanon for the Foundation Naji Naaman. Corresponding member of the Academy Cosentina, founded in 1511 by Aulo Giano Parrasio. She works in international relations for EMUI EuroMed University. She is the President of the Italian Network for the Euro-mediterranean Dialogue.