Giovanni Pascoli
Translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock

 to Giacinto Stiavelli

Three grapes, Giacinto, grow upon these vines:
The first is pleasure, and is clear as air;
the next is sweet amnesia. Drink their wines,
but stop there,

because the third is sleep, in whose dark corner,
keeping a keen-eyed vigil (as you know),
sits grief. And loud is the mute cry the mourner
cried long ago.


I tre grappoli

a G.S.

Ha tre, Giacinto, grappoli la vite.
Bevi del primo il limpido piacere;
bevi dell’altro l’oblio breve e mite;
e…più non bere:

chè sonno è il terzo, e con lo sguardo acuto
nel nero sonno vigila, da un canto,
sappi, il dolore; e alto grida un muto
pianto già pianto.
from the book LAST DREAM / World Poetry Books
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Pascoli's epigram seems to have been inspired by two ancient Greek sources: Scythian philosopher Anacharsis reportedly said that vines bore three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, and the third of disgust or repentance; and a character in a play by Athenian poet Eubulus recommends stopping after three glasses of wine: the first glass for health, the second for pleasure, and the third for sleep.

Geoffrey Brock on "Three Grapes"
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"Though poetry has always existed and experienced waves of acclaim, the genre is finding new prominence in today's mainstream collective imagination, stripping itself of its previous relegation to sleepy high school English classes. And, for the most part, poets of color are leading the charge."

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