ER CAFFETTIERE FISOLOFO (The Philosophizing Barman)

Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli 1791 (Rome) – 1863



L'ommini de sto monno sò l'istesso
Che vaghi de caffè ner macinino:
C'uno prima, uno doppo, e un'antro appresso,
Tutti quanti però vanno a un distino.

Spesso muteno sito, e caccia spesso
Er vago grosso er vago piccinino,
E ss'incarzeno tutti in zu l'ingresso
Der ferro che li sfraggne in porverino.

E l'ommini accusì viveno ar monno
Misticati pe mano de la sorte
Che sse li gira tutti in tonno in tonno;

E movennose oggnuno, o ppiano, o fforte,
Senza capillo mai caleno a fonno
Pe cascà ne la gola de la morte.

English

In this world, men are like
Coffee beans in a grinder:
One in front, one who follows, another one behind,
But all of them move towards the same destiny.

They often change place, and often
The big coffee-bean takes the place of the small one,
And they all cram by the hole
Where the blade crushes them into powder.

And this is how men live in this world,
Mingled by the hand of fate,
Which turns them round and round.

And each of them moving, fast or slow,
Unawares, they sink down
To drop in the jaws of death.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:00 min read
73

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB ABAB BCB CBC XDCB BBXD CCC XBX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,042
Words 195
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3

Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli

Giuseppe Francesco Antonio Maria Gioachino Raimondo Belli was an Italian poet, famous for his sonnets in Romanesco, the dialect of Rome. more…

All Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli poems | Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli Books

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