Concordia Discors Poetry
The CD Poetry Collection
Curated by Concordia Discors. To suggest additions (especially more voices of hope and freedom), write us on X @ConcordiaDiscrs
… Non chiederci la parola che squadri da ogni lato l’animo nostro informe; e a lettere di fuoco lo dichiari e risplenda come un croco perduto in mezzo a un polveroso prato. Ah l’uomo che se ne va sicuro, agli altri ed a se stesso amico, e l’ombra sua non cura che la canicola stampa sopra uno scalcinato muro …
… Do not ask us for the word that can square our shapeless soul; nor for letters of fire to declare it, shining like a crocus lost in a dusty field. Ah, the man who goes his way assured—friend to himself and others—untroubled by the shadow the dog-days press on a crumbling wall …
Montale resists ideological clarity: truth is fragmentary, yet integrity lies in refusing propaganda’s false light.
- Rejects utopian slogans that distort conscience.
- Affirms humility before the limits of reason.
- Models honesty in a fractured, plural world.
… Taci. Su le soglie del bosco non odo parole che dici umane; ma parole più nuove parlano gocciole e foglie lontane. Ascolta. Piove dalle nuvole sparse. Piove su le tamerici salmastre ed arse, piove su i pini scagliosi ed irti, piove su i mirti divini …
… Be still. At the wood’s threshold I hear no words that men have spoken; newer words are uttered by drops and distant leaves. Listen. It rains from scattered clouds—on salt-scarred tamarisks and bristling pines, on myrtles that seem divine …
For Sbarbaro, silence is moral: attention to the natural world precedes human judgment, an ethic of humility.
- Values quiet over ideological noise.
- Suggests nature as truth beyond partisanship.
- Trains conscience in patience and listening.
… M’illumino d’immenso …
… I am flooded with immensity …
Ungaretti, in the trenches of WWI, discovers transcendence in one line: conscience survives even amid horror.
- Locates freedom in inner clarity, not outward power.
- Shows poetry as resistance to despair.
- Affirms dignity through the simplest words.
… Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra trafitto da un raggio di sole; ed è subito sera …
… Everyone stands alone at the heart of the earth, pierced by a ray of sun; and suddenly it is evening …
Quasimodo distills solitude and brevity: freedom must be lived consciously because time is fleeting.
- Highlights human fragility and solitude.
- Reminds us liberty is brief and precious.
- Calls to conscience: live before evening falls.
… Nella mia giovinezza ho navigato lungo le coste dalmate. Le isole mi apparivano a una a una: le case, i porti, le chiese, i cimiteri. Uscivo col sole, e il sole mi accompagnava …
… In my youth I sailed along the Dalmatian coasts. The islands appeared one by one: the houses, the ports, the churches, the cemeteries. I set out with the sun, and the sun accompanied me …
Saba takes Ulysses as symbol of restless identity: freedom found not in possession, but in seeking.
- Embodies pluralism through openness to the sea.
- Suggests liberty as movement, not arrival.
- Frames conscience as journey rather than dogma.
… È difficile dire con parole di figlio ciò a cui nel cuore ben poco assomiglio. Tu sei l’unica al mondo che sa, del mio cuore, ciò che è stato sempre, prima d’ogni altro amore …
… It is hard to say with a son’s words what my heart scarcely resembles. You are the only one in the world who knows of my heart what it has always been, before any other love …
Pasolini’s radical tenderness: a plea beyond ideology, anchoring freedom in love and vulnerability.
- Defends intimacy as resistance to dehumanization.
- Affirms love as foundation of conscience.
- Challenges ideological coldness with human warmth.
Poetry
Translations are indicative; wording may vary by edition. Rights remain with the authors, translators, and publishers. If any excerpt is used inadvertently, contact gxz8@protonmail.com for immediate removal.
… Non chiederci la parola che squadri da ogni lato l’animo nostro informe; e a lettere di fuoco lo dichiari e risplenda come un croco perduto in mezzo a un polveroso prato. Ah l’uomo che se ne va sicuro, agli altri ed a se stesso amico, e l’ombra sua non cura che la canicola stampa sopra uno scalcinato muro …
… Do not ask us for the word that can frame our shapeless soul; nor for letters of fire to declare it, shining like a crocus lost in a dusty field. Ah, the man who goes his way assured—friend to himself and others—untroubled by the shadow the dog-days press on a crumbling wall …
Against propaganda’s false clarity: honesty about limits, not slogans, is moral strength.
- Resists ideological certainties.
- Affirms humility before truth.
- Models integrity in pluralism.
… Taci. Su le soglie del bosco non odo parole che dici umane; ma parole più nuove parlano gocciole e foglie lontane. Ascolta. Piove dalle nuvole sparse. Piove su le tamerici salmastre ed arse, piove su i pini scagliosi ed irti, piove su i mirti divini …
… Be still. At the wood’s threshold I hear no words that men have spoken; newer words are uttered by drops and distant leaves. Listen. It rains from scattered clouds—on salt-scarred tamarisks and bristling pines, on myrtles that seem divine …
Silence becomes moral attention: reality speaks when rhetoric quiets.
- Centers humility over noise.
- Offers nature as antidote to ideology.
- Trains conscience to listen first.
… M’illumino d’immenso …
… I am flooded with immensity …
A trench-born epiphany: minimal words, maximal meaning.
- Finds light in desolation.
- Shows conscience condensed to clarity.
- Suggests liberty begins inwardly.
… Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra trafitto da un raggio di sole; ed è subito sera …
… Everyone stands alone at the heart of the earth, pierced by a ray of sun; and suddenly it is evening …
Existence in three lines: solitude, grace, brevity.
- Recognizes human fragility.
- Calls for deliberate living.
- Echoes liberty’s vulnerability.
… Ideał sięgnął bruku! — lecz z dźwięku dom powstaje, i światło; strzaskany fortepian, a jednak wznosi naród, gdy pamięć w tonie trwa …
… The Ideal has touched the cobblestones—yet from sound arise a house and light; the shattered piano still lifts a nation when memory endures in tone …
Art over rubble: Warsaw’s loss becomes cultural resolve.
- Memory strengthens civic freedom.
- Culture outlasts force.
- Beauty as moral architecture.
… Wielkieś mi uczyniła pustki w domu moim, moja droga Orszulo; cisza dzwoni po izbach, a każdy sprzęt pyta o ciebie, jakbyś miała zaraz wrócić …
… Such emptiness you have made in my house, dear Urszula; silence rings through the rooms, and every object asks for you as if you might return at once …
Private grief as civic wisdom; institutions need room for mourning.
- Teaches empathy as strength.
- Connects loss to communal care.
- Humanizes public life.
… Weh mir, wo nehm’ ich, wenn es Winter ist, die Blumen, und wo den Sonnenschein, und Schatten der Erde? Die Mauern stehn sprachlos und kalt, im Winde klirren die Fahnen …
… Woe to me—when it is winter, where shall I find the flowers, and where the sunlight and earth’s shade? The walls stand speechless and cold; in the wind the flags rattle …
From summer to winter: cultures, like souls, face barren seasons.
- Names civilizational winters.
- Requires fidelity, not frenzy.
- Guards hope without illusion.
… Denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du musst dein Leben ändern …
… For there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life …
Beauty as command: aesthetics joined to conscience.
- Demands conversion, not consumption.
- Refuses complacency.
- Links culture to moral renewal.
… All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born …
Rebellion’s cost measured without romanticism or cynicism.
- Honors sacrifice without myth-making.
- Admits politics wounds and remakes us.
- Balances justice and prudence.
… Caminante, son tus huellas el camino y nada más; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Al andar se hace camino, y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar …
… Traveler, your footprints are the path—nothing more; there is no road, the road is made by walking. As you walk, the road unfolds; and looking back you see a path never to be trodden again …
Responsibility is made step by step; institutions are lived into being.
- Rejects fatalism.
- Centers agency and virtue.
- Encourages courage under uncertainty.
… Souvent, pour s’amuser, les hommes d’équipage prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers, qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage, le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers …
… Often, to amuse themselves, the sailors snare albatrosses—vast birds of the sea—idle companions to the ship gliding over bitter gulfs …
The mismatch between spirit and society reveals culture’s need for shelter.
- Defends imaginative freedom.
- Shows vulnerability of the artist.
- Warns against mockery as social control.
… Comme je descendais des Fleuves impassibles, je ne me sentis plus guidé par les haleurs; des Peaux-Rouges criards les avaient pris pour cibles, les ayant cloués nus aux poteaux de couleurs …
… As I drifted down impassive rivers, I no longer felt the haulers guide me; shrieking natives had made them their targets, nailing them naked to poles painted with colors …
Unmoored liberation becomes peril: freedom needs form.
- Exposes freedom’s dangers without tradition.
- Names the thrill and terror of rupture.
- Invites creative responsibility.
… Σα βγεις στον πηγαιμό για την Ιθάκη, να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος, γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις …
… As you set out for Ithaka, hope the road is long—full of adventure, full of learning …
Pilgrim politics: courage, prudence, gratitude for the way itself.
- Shifts focus from arrival to formation.
- Frames liberty as apprenticeship.
- Rejects utopia for lived wisdom.
… Στο περιγιάλι το κρυφό, άσπρο σαν περιστέρι το νερό· κι εμείς διψάσαμε …
… On the secret seashore, the water white as a dove; and we were thirsty …
Longing and restraint: a poetics of limits in love and politics.
- Teaches desire disciplined by truth.
- Honors constraint as humane.
- Prefers fidelity to frenzy.
… Was bleibet aber, stiften die Dichter …
… But what remains the poets found …
What endures is founded by poets: culture outlasts politics.
- Centers culture as the memory of freedom.
- Opposes amnesia with form.
- Underscores responsibility of witness.
… Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends, wir trinken sie mittags und morgens, wir trinken sie nachts …
… Black milk of daybreak we drink you at evening; we drink you at midday and morning; we drink you at night …
A music of horror: language stretched to remember what power wanted erased.
- Witness against totalitarian forgetting.
- Shows art carrying unbearable memory.
- Protects human dignity through naming.
… Нет, и не под чуждым небосводом, и не под защитой чуждых крыл — я была тогда со своим народом, там, где мой народ, к несчастью, был …
… No—neither under an alien sky nor under the shelter of alien wings— I was with my people then, where, to my misfortune, my people were …
Solidarity in terror: choosing to stand with the imprisoned and silenced.
- Defines conscience as companionship in suffering.
- Rejects exile’s safety when truth calls.
- Honors the voiceless with voice.
… Мы живем, под собою не чуя страны; наши речи за десять шагов не слышны …
… We live without feeling the country beneath us; our words are unheard ten steps away …
The suffocation of speech under dictatorship—and poetry’s defiant breath.
- Names fear as a political technology.
- Insists on truth against power.
- Shows language as civic oxygen.
… Dzień taki szczęśliwy. Mgła nad łąką, skowronek, i pokój w człowieku. Jakby wszystko już było przebaczone …
… A day so happy. Mist over the meadow, a skylark, and peace within. As if everything were already forgiven …
Gratitude as resistance to despair; an anti-ideological joy.
- Affirms interior freedom.
- Heals memory without amnesia.
- Counters nihilism with gratitude.
… Spróbuj opiewać okaleczony świat; pamiętaj o chwilach, kiedy byliście razem, i o winogronach ciemnych jak noc, i o śnie na piasku …
… Try to praise the mutilated world; remember the moments when you were together, grapes dark as night, sleep in the sand …
Praise that does not deny wounds: a humane middle path between denial and despair.
- Teaches non-naive hope.
- Protects pluralism from cynicism.
- Joins beauty to moral attention.