Bring me the Sunflower - Eugenio Montale

 

 (Portami il girasole ch'io lo trapianti)

Bring me the sunflower so I can transplant it

to my earth scorched with salt, 

so it can display all day to the azure mirrors 

of sky the anxiety of its yellow face. 

Dark things stretch towards brightness, 

bodies exhaust themselves in a flow 

of colours: this in music. To vanish 

is thus the hazard of venturing.

Bring me the plant that leads
where blond transparencies rise
where life dissolves like essence;
bring me the sunflower crazy with light.

Eugenio Montale, Italy, 1896-1981