Monday, July 1, 2019

La porta dello spavento supremo -                                       The Door of the Supreme Fright

Quello che c'è ciò che verrà
Ciò che siamo stati
E comunque andrà
Tutto si dissolverà

Nell'apparenza e nel reale
Nel regno fisico o in quello astrale
Tutto si dissolverà

Sulle scogliere fissavo il mare
Che biancheggiava nell'oscurità
Tutto si dissolverà

Bisognerà per forza
Attraversare alla fine
La porta dello spavento supremo

Il sogno . . .

Il nulla emanava la pietra grigia
E attorno campi di zafferano
Passavano donne bellissime
In sete altere ...
Passavano donne bellissime
In sete altere ...

La porta dello spavento supremo © 2004 Franco Battiato, Manlio Sgalambro & Fleur Jaeggy

In "La porta dello spavento supremo," Sgalambro and Battiato trade verses, written by Sgalambro in the first part and by Fleur Jaeggy in "The Dream." Battiato said that the song came directly from the Vedas, where "it is said that to pass into more elevated spheres you must abandon not only material reality, but also your memory."

That which is, what will come,
what we were
and in any case will go,
everything will dissolve.

In appearance and for real,
in the physical realm or in the astral one,
everything will dissolve.

On the reefs I stared at the sea
that whitened in obscurity –
everything will dissolve.

It will need perforce
to cross over to the end –
the door of the supreme fright.

The dream . . .

Nothingness emanated the gray rock
and around fields of saphron
beautiful women passed
in proud silks.
Beautiful women passed
in proud silks.

English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser



Dieci stratagemmi - Attraversare il mare per ingannare il cielo was released in 2004. The title is a takeoff on the Chinese essay Thirty-Six Stratagems, which discusses strategies used in war and politics. The lyrics were mostly co-written by Battiato and the Sicilian philosopher Manlio Sgalambro.
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