 A CANVAS BEFORE MY EYES Margherita M. Morsella The windmills have appeared Atop the Appenine Mountains There is no Sancho Panza And the elusive knight is nowhere to be found. A canvas before my eyes Composed of dispersed towns, hidden rivers And the pastures of the transumanza. A canvas before my eyes That I wish to transpose To carry with me wherever my feet shall wander. The buzz of the bees The flutter of the butterflies Disturbed only by the distant sound of motors now and again Reminders that paradise is no more. A canvas before my eyes Fields of yellow, brown and gold Cardi, dried flowers parched by the sun Soaring above the fields I am home atop this mountain I am home. . . (Written on August 18th 2007 at the summit of Sant'Mass) The windmill is an allegory for the wind turbines that have ruined the Molisano landscape in recent years. The idealistic referral to the elusive knight is Don Quixote, a hero, who is not there to stop the installation of those brutish wind turbines that have spoiled the wild beauty of the writer's beloved countryside. Despite the wind turbines, the writer still sees beauty in the landscape which to her is like a painting or canvas. |