EOL: Magrini article

"Fior di tomba" lyrics

Di là da cui boscage / na bela fia a j'è;
So pare e sua mare / la völo maridè.
A völo dè-i-la a ün prinsi / fiöl d'imperadur.
- Mi vöi nè re nè prinsi / fiöl d'imperadur;
Déi-me cul giuvinoto / ch'a j'è 'n cula përzun.
- O fia dla mia fia / l'è pà 'n partì da ti;
Duman a úndes ure / a lo faran mürì.
- S'a fan mürì cul giuvo / ch'a m'fasso mürì mi;
Ch'a m'fasso fè na tumba / ch'a i sia d' post për tri,
Ch'a i stago pare e mare / 'l me amur an brass a mi.
An sima a cula tumba / piantran dle röze e fiur;
Tüta la gent ch'a i passa / a sentiran l'odur,
Diran: - J'è mort la bela / lè morta për l'amur! -*

* Nigra gives no indication of the strophic structure, but shows the division of the lines into hemistichs.

Tomb Flower

A beautiful woman lives across the forest.
Her parents want to marry her.
They want to marry her to a prince, the emperor's son.
"I want no king, or prince, or emperor's son,
I want that young man who is in prison."
"My daughter, he is not a good match for you,
He will be executed tomorrow at eleven."
"If he dies, I want to die too,
I want a grave big enough for three,
I shall rest there with my parents and my beloved in my arms.
Flowers will be planted on the tomb,
The passers-by will smell the flowers,
And will say: "This fair woman died for love."

(translation by Tullia Magrini and Stefano Mengozzi)


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