Stories about stones
tiny and gigantic stones
houses of janas and tombs of giants.
Ancient stones
of an ancient island
shaped like a sandal
in the middle of the Middle Sea.
Sentinel-stones
that guard, underground, treasures
and terrible maghedde-flies, as big as crows.
Stones as heavy as stones
immobile for a thousand and a thousand years
hoping that someone will overturn them
to stretch a little!
Stones where the children let their old fathers rest
the day they had the obligation to take them to the mountains to die.
Stones that have seen and heard all sorts of things.
Who have listened to the toils of the fields
the injustices
the shepherds’ songs
the tales of the gleaners
the shouts of the boys who urged the horses
the secrets whispered by the girls
the promises of love
the challenges to sa murra, to s’istrumpa, to poetry.
Stones that never tire of listening to the sound of the Mistral
that still laughs today
when it runs
from the mountains to the sea.
Stones that dream of falling from the sky
like rain invoked by farmers.
A light rain
of small clay stones
that will nourish the earth.
And stone seeds
will become mint
and pomegranate
and oak
and ears of wheat.
And there will be enough for everyone
one day.
There will be enough for everyone
in abundance
at a large stone table
set around the world.
stone seeds by Pinuccio Sciola
