Italy (is a pomegranate) by Francesco Tomada

Io in vita mia ho comprato e trapiantato un unico albero
un melograno

ho scelto un angolo del giardino
da dove si vede la ghiera dei monti
dal San Gabriele fino al Nanos
quella cresta è stata Italia e Jugoslavia e poi Slovenia
è stata terra dolorosa e di rancore

i confini dovrebbero essere come gli orizzonti
quando ti muovi si muovono anche loro
se ti fermi si fermano con te
ma ti fanno sempre sentire al centro esatto del mondo

e patria è dove
un uomo pianta un melograno
e può aspettare di mangiarne i frutti

***

In my life I have bought and transplanted one tree only,
a pomegranate

I chose a spot of the garden
from where you can see the cloister of the mountains
from San Gabriele to Nanos
that ridge once was Italy and Yugoslavia and then Slovenia
it was a land of pain and grudge

borders should be like horizons
when you move they move too
if you stop they stop with you
but they always make you feel right in the center of the world

and homeland is where
a man plants a pomegranate
and can wait to eat its fruits

About Francesco Tomada

Francesco Tomada was born in Udine. He studied biology and biochemistry in Trieste, now he lives in Gorizia and works as high school teacher. He started writing in the early nineties, and since then he took part to several readings and live performances. His poems appeared in various literary magazines in Italy and abroad, and they've been translated in more than ten languages.
His first book, titled “L'infanzia vista da qui”, was published in 2005 and won the Literary Prize Beppe Manfredi for the best debut in 2007. His second book, titled “A ogni cosa il suo nome”, was published in 2008, and the third, named “Portarsi avanti con gli addii” [Anticipating the Farewells], in 2014.
In Bulgaria was published from Scalino in 2016 his anthological book of poems “Questo è il mio tempo” [This is my time] translated into Bulgarian by Aksinia Mihaylova and Emilia Mirazchiyska.
A bilingual his book of poems titled “Non si può imporre il colore di una rosa” was published in Italy in 2019 from Carteggi Letterari with the Greek translations by Evangelia Polymou.