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Anti-War Haiku Wall

Moussia (Italy)

A poem I have written after a visit to war cemeteries in Anzio.

Mother
is this the gift
you have reserved for me
when I was born?
Not my first steps' sheaves
or poppies' bright spot
or humid grass caress
under my naked feet
or frogs' croaking
inside full ponds.
Neither the kiss
nor the love have I picked
among May hedges.

Mother
is this your gift?
An earth gag
to stifle me
and a rent in my stomach
whence life gushes out
to glutting other mouths?

Madre
è questo il dono
che tu mi riservasti
quando nacqui?
Non i covoni dei miei primi passi
o la macchia raggiante dei papaveri
o la carezza umida dell'erba
sotto i piedi nudi
o il gracidare delle rane
negli stagni ricolmi.
E neppure fu il bacio
né l'amore che io colsi
tra le siepi di Maggio.

Madre
questo è dunque il tuo dono?
un bavaglio di terra
a soffocarmi
e uno squarcio nel ventre
da cui la vita fugge
a saziare altre bocche?

"In Italy, Emergency, a humanitarian association created by Gino Strada - a surgeon from Milan - which brings medical aid to many countries of the world, wounded by war, suggests putting a white rag or handkerchief out of one's windows, bags, cars to signify one's aversion to war.

To which I add my suggestion: write on your letters, parcels, gift wrappings, etc. "No to war". It could be an easy way to spread this idea and to give visibility to it."