THE LITTLE SOLDIER
UNKNOWN
By Ada Negri
Translated from the Italian by Rudolph Altrocchi
In the grey misty rain
Along the streets
Of the smoky city
Slowly, slowly goes by
The carriage that bears no flowers,
But the three colors
As a wreath
On a little coffin.
Soldiers follow,
With faces stern and impassive,
Rifles at trail:
Maidens follow
They too in war apparel,
Cross of red on tunic of blue.
The wet asphalt reflects
In sudden transparent drifts
Livid and icy
The shadows of the sad procession
Drifting, drifting,
As on the waters of a river
Whose banks are silence
And whose mouth is death.
From dark open spaces of doors
From glistening sidewalks
People hastening pale
Look on: and the men
Reverently uncover
Their heads, and the women
Half-gesture the sign of the cross
Between a sigh and a shudder.
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