ANNA MARIA DALL'OLIO

ANNA MARIA DALL'OLIO

THE ASTRONAUT’S DREAM

Last night I dreamt dreamt & dreamt

Floating floating floating around

wading the wide wide universe

no more was the Earth encircled by confusion

stalked by war

raped by division

what I simple soul could see & hear

so different minds in total consensus

such various qualities in perfect identity

so complementary colours in total harmony

so many hearts beating in perfect unanimity

what I simple soul could barely think

all this clear homogeneousness

all this sheer oneness

all this definite sameness

is it not the reason for final union

for permanent indivisibility

is it not the best solution to so divided mankind?

HEART OF GLASS

See such hands folded exactly

glass & the colour of sunshine.

Face, wrinkled like wrought wood,

fire, white like stars.

A single stroke, a single bump,

tells her years of very stubborn work

rolling around her only art

ribbons tied across her lonely heart.

her neck blows like her husband’s blowpipe

the pipe at the back of the room

where she spent so many long, long nights

watching him work by heart.

Your eyes wonder & wonder:

to her the ever most sparkling bubble belongs.

The man of her dreams came true:

she caressed that glass, the hottest mass.

Fire, white like stars,

Face, wrinkled like wrought wood.

See such hands folded exactly

glass& the colour of sunshine.

YOU WERE NINETY

You were ninety, you fell asleep so soon.

Your fierce smile roared through the house,

Such saucy words & starry eyes.

We cannot wonder why, oh why.

We miss your wild, wild reproaches,

How you spread strength when all around was so weak.

We miss your awful efforts to protect us so.

Why, why did you want to go?

We really miss your harsh, harsh voice

quarrelling with your outdated typewriter.

We miss you smoking & shouting.

We cannot wonder why, oh why.

We miss the stories you told us together,

spilling milk in the sink, driving Mum mad,

your new tie forgotten on the desk.

Why, why did you need to go?

We both love you, Daddy. Now it is terribly clear

we can do nothing to have you back here,

we just can’t see why life is so sunless & sad.

ANNA MARIA DALL'OLIO