Via del Monte - Umberto Saba

In Trieste, where there are many sorrows,
and beauties of sky and cityscape,
there’s a hill called the Via del Monte.
It begins with a synagogue,
and ends in a cloister; mid-way
there’s a chapel; from it a dark ardour
for life might discover a meadow,
the sea with ships, and the promontory,
the crowds and stalls of the market.
And, on the flank of the hill, a cemetery,
abandoned now, where no funeral parties
appear, no more burials, for as long
as I can remember; the old cemetery
of the Jews, so dear to my thoughts,
when I think of you, my ancestors, after all
your sufferings and dealings, buried there,
all alike, in spirit and face.

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Umberto Saba (1883 - 1957) Italy
Translated by A. S. Kline