Translation of poem by Antonia Pozzi

If this is it (Così sia)

Since I too have fallen,

Lord,

at a doorstep —

like a pilgrim

who has used up bread, water,

and sandals,

whose vision is dim

and whose breath burns,

life’s edge

and the street would have her

laid flat out there —

dead there,

before she could touch

a stone of the Sepulchre —

since I too have fallen,

Lord,

and am nailed here

to this street

as to the cross —

oh, won’t You grant me

this evening

from the depths of Your

nocturnal immensity —

as to the corpse of a pilgrim —

the mercy

of stars.

April 9, 1933

for Lawrence

translation by Nick Benson