The First Lyre, La Prima Lyra

An Italian translation of my poem The First Lyre.

The English original is from the book Corfu Blues, Poems and Songs Inspired by Greece and the Balkans, Ars Interpres Publications, 2006.

My poem (in English) was broadcast on BBC 4, Time for Verse, in a programme of poems related to music, presented by Dannie Abse, back in 1988.

The Italian version was first published in Minimanimalia, Canzoniere Animinimalista di Raul Scacchi, Gioia Roni Maestro Scacchi, Istos Edizioni srl, 2016 (bilingual Italian/English).

The Italian version reflects some slight changes made by the composer Raul Scacchi in the course of setting my poem as a song.

Illustration by Lucrezia Benvenuti