Krog
(Petronius' melting pot)


             I'll tell thee
             everything you can,
             there's little to relate
(L. Carroll, through. . .VIII)

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legenda
Petronii saturarum libri = sat.
Lewis Carroll, Alice's adventures in Wonderland = advent.
Lewis Carroll, Through the looking-glass and what Alice found there = through. . .

the author thanks Liliana Lo Giudice and Rosa Maria Costa









noche-gece (night) sat.41

Autumn frosts have slain July. . .
                               (through. . .XII)

dies. . .nihil est –
                         dum versas te,
         nox fit

[mancu agghiorna ca' scura,
mancu u tempu i' nasciri
ca t'addumannanu u cuntu. . .
avissimu a pigghiari
strati ca un canusciemu]

the day. . . is the slightest thing –
              just one little move
   and the night has fallen

[darkness appeares when sun has just risen,
at birth a price is asked to pay –
it'd be better to search for unknown ways]









límites-hudut (contingency,impermanence) sat.42

". . .it's marked out just like a large chess-board!
It's a great huge game of chess that's being
played – all over the world. . ."
                                                            (through.  . .II)

nos non pluris sumus
             quam bullae

[accussì si rici:
           "siemu nuddu
            ammischiatu cu' niente
personne mélangé au néant"]

human beings
            are only bubbles

[so it's said:
"nobody we are,
mixed with nothingness"]









labirinto-bilmece (labyrinth, riddle) sat. 58

"it's exactly like a riddle with no answer!"
                                               (through. . .IX)

Qui de nobis?
       longe venio, late venio –
solve me

["dimmi cu' firria ni tutt'i parti. . ."
pi farinni i cianchi
di quantu siemu cose inutili
un'na ghiri a nudda banna]

which of us?
I'm going far and wide,
solve me

["tell me who can go everywhere" –
to laugh at our nothingness,
you needn't go somewhere else]









enigmas-muamma (mysteries, riddle) sat. 48

"Up above the world you fly
    like a tea-tray in the Sky "
                           (advent. VII )

dicam tibi
               qui de nobis currit
                          et de loco non movetur,
      qui de nobis crescit et minor fit

["dimmi chi un'havi pieri e fa a' via. .  ."
"biancu palummu
russu cavaleri
e cinqu chill'accumpagna"]

I'll tell you
which of us running
stays at his own place,
which of us getting smaller grows taller

["tell me who has no legs and shows the way"
"white pigeon,
red knight
with a following five"]









tentación-imrendirme (temptation) sat.72

dreaming as the days go by
dreaming as the summers die
                        (through. . .XII)

cum sciamus nos morituros esse,
                      quare non vivamus?

[picchi "rietteru u viscuotto
a chi un su sapi arrusicare. .&mbsp;."
(ma ognunu avi a so' stidda
             chacun a son étoile)]

we know the end;
why don't we really live?

[to the toothless
the harder biscuit is given
(but everyone follows his own way)]









ecos-aksi sada (echoes) sat. 79

echoes fade and memories die
                          (through. . .XII)

haesimus calentes
  et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis
                   errantes animas

[s'attisaru e s'arricriaru
     ils s'amusèrent: sevsinler. . .]

anxiously we embraced each other,
some life breathes to infuse
     into our mouths, everywhere

[stirred up, they were satisfied:
                     let's them love. . .]









estrellas ve ay (stars and moon) sat. 89

The sun was shining on the sea. . .
                                    (through. . .IV)

Iam plena Phoebe candidum extulerat
                                             iubar
                     minora ducens
                         astra    radianti face

[e immienzu u' scuru
s'addumaru un mantu ri stiddi]

a full moon was carrying a pure light,
hand in hand with her sparkling stars

[the darkness lit up, mantled with stars]









recuerdo imposible (impossible memory) sat.128

"Only I do hope it's my dream, and not Red King's!
    I don't like belonging to another person's dream"
                                                             (through.  . .VIII)

animus    quod perdidit optat
            atque in praeterita
 se totus             immagine
         versat

[picchì vulemu siempre
"a vutti china e a mugghieri ammriaca"]

we love only what is lost
gathering our thoughts only
             on the lost imagery

[we always want the brimful glass
served by a drunken maid-wife* ]





* "You can't eat your cake and have it"









el fin (the end) sat. 80

"your Red Majesty, shouldn't purr
                        so loud" Alice said. . .
                                 (through. . .XII)

grex agit in scena mimum:
pater ille vocatur,
filius hic, nomen divitis ille tenet –
mox ubi ridendas  inclusit pagina
               partes,     vera redit facies,
                             adsimulata perit

["pupi siemu. . .", duopo u' babbiu,
                        tuttu ni passa supra ]

here is the life comedy:
someone is called the father,
someone else the son, or the rich man –
but after the funny acts,
here is finally the real performance face,
fiction is finished forever

[we 're maskers. . .but at the end
           everything passes over us]