Non senti le voci dei fantasmi
dei morti di Adua ?

Deserti somali, etiopici altipiani
sotto il nero firmamento.
Piu' vite perdute che in tutte le battaglie
del Risorgimento.

D'estate, di notte, urlano nel silenzio
per le strade dei quartieri costruiti dal regime.
Si fondono nei muri, mormorando
dolori senza fine.

In via Adua torna a casa a tarda sera
la bella ragazza.
Ha dentro se' la storia e la genetica
di tutta la sua razza.

E i numerosi figli crescono e si spargono
per tutta la terra;
e forse nel futuro non avranno memoria
di nessuna guerra.

1998

ADOWA


Can't you hear the voices of the dead of Adowa? Somalian deserts,Ethiopian mountain ranges under the black sky. More lost lives than all the battles of the Risorgimento. In the summertime, at night, they scream in the silence along the streets of those neighborhoods built by the fascist regime. They melt inside the walls, whispering endless sorrows. In Adowa street the pretty girl gets back home, late at night. She has inside herself the history and the seed of her whole race. And her numberless children grow and populate the whole world; maybe, in the future, they won't have memories of any wars.

ADUA: Infamous battle during the Italian attempt to colonize East Africa in 1896. More Italians died there than during all the wars of the Risorgimento. RISORGIMENTO: The Italian movement that created the united Italy of the modern era in the 19th century, after centuries of division and domination of Italy by foreign powers.