Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

The Ass

The wretch drags the chain
and the dumb ass bears it,
harnessed from dusk till dawn
to the mill, back and forth ─
a thrashing is the rule
as the boss strides the rump.
Bray, the bridle will slash,
paw, the spurs will grind,
tote wheat, but straw
and chaff is what you eat.
Such is the lot of the wretch
under the whip and rein,
his neck, under the yoke,
groomed with a curry comb
and trampled by the procession
of kings, nobles, prelates
drawing blood from the eyes
of the poor, blind and infirm.
Ecce “the family of man” ─
evil’s the wretch’s lot.
(1922-24)
(Translated by by Justin Vitiello)