To my father, in dream

Six years have passed: sometimes it feels as if it was only yesterday, at other times as if decades have passed.

To my father, in dream

You smile a little and walk off, thoughtful.

And suddenly I wonder, amidst tears,

How long it has been that I have not pressed you to my chest

I have not held your arms like a friend.

Memory has shipwrecks we don’t know about.

It fades like the September sky,

fills up with clouds in the wind.

You are leaving. Suddenly, I find so many
things to tell you...but remain silent.
But at the moment I turn, why aren't you there?
There are so many things to be said...
And I call you still, and believe
that this cannot really be a dream.

Alessandro Parronchi

© tr. Sofia A Koutlaki 2020