ISABELLA SORDI

 

I Have Placed Distances

 

Death is not

the bend in the road

but rather

a faint, imperceptible sound,

the flutter of a wing

or a violin’s off-key note.

What remains

Are drooping flags, windless,

as after a celebration.

I have placed distances between us

because the dream of life

slowly evaporates

and I, from longing,

could die.

 

The Moon And The Nightingale

 

The charming Moon, even among clouds,

showed all her beauty and the Nightingale

told her his story in a feeble voice,

half-hidden by the branches and the leaves.

He started saying:” A long, long time ago

I was a man who didn’t have the wings

and couldn’t fly: I felt caged in;

my wife, my children and my humble life

seemed unattractive and without a goal.

So, I decided that I could escape

and turn myself into a bird to fly”.

“How do you feel now?” gently asked the Moon,

unvealing half her face in the pale light.

“Well, I can fly and lightly on the branch

I sway; my voice is high to reach the sky.

I sing all day and night and never sleep

but miss my wife, my children and my life:

to be a man is difficult, sometimes”.

The Moon did not reply and hid her smile

behind the clouds, until it got all dark.

 

 

ISABELLA SORDI

 

ISABELLA SORDI: Isabella Sordi, born in Udine, Italy, in 1954, is a retired teacher of English Literature, who lives now in Venice, where she taught at the local High School after taking her degree in Modern Languages at the University of Udine. She did classical studies and has devoted herself to poetry since she was a child, always receiving positive reviews and winning numerous first prizes. In 2008 she published her first book of poems, “Un Dio felice”, Vitale, Sanremo, third place at the “Città di New York” and, in 2013, “Sopra I cieli di Berlino”, Helicon, Arezzo, fourth and fifth in both national and international contests. She is present in many literary anthologies and her latest book, “In un vorticoso tango” (Helicon, Arezzo, 2022), was classified first at the International Poetry Competition “Certamen Apollinare Poeticum”, in 2023. In 2022 she was the President of the Jury in the Intercontinental Literary Contest “Le Nove Muse” in Venice. Member of the Jury at Grottammare and, in 2025 at “Voci-Città di Roma”. First Prize in the International Competition “The Moon and the Dragon” 2025. She is a a member of Writers Capital Foundation and a Distinguished Scholar of IAE (International Academy of Ethics). Official Member CIESART (Doctor Honoris Causa) and Rinascimento-Renaissance Millenium III. Misionera de la Paz (Acción de Paz).