L’atomica cinese [English translation]

It rose from the deserts in western Mongolia,

a death cloud, a ghostly cloud,

that goes, that goes, that goes…

Over the fields of China, over the temple and the rice paddy,

it crosses the Yellow River, it crosses the Great Wall

and goes, and goes, and goes…

Over the grazing buffalo, over a centuries-old civilization,

over the red flags, over the portraits of prophets,1

over the portraits of lords,

over the unperturbed tombs of ancient emperors…

It’s covering a continent, it’s rushing towards the sea,

it clouds the sky as far as the eye can see2

and goes, and goes, and goes…

Over the flight of seagulls falling down into the water,3

under the fish floating and covering the beach4

and goes, and goes, and goes…

Fishermen look up towards such a livid sky,5

waves look like they’ve stopped, you can’t hear but silence,

and the nets are full of silver corpses…

Then the clouds crack open, and rain slowly falls down

on house rooftops, among street cobblestones,6

on dying trees, on drying fields,

on man’s puppies, on herds drinking it,

on abandoned beaches; a rain that’s poison

and that kills slowly, a rain with no rainbow,

that goes, that goes, that goes, that goes, that goes!

1. The red flags are those of communist countries like China or the Soviet Union.

It doesn’t mean “sign of danger” in Italian.2. Successive versions have:

it clouds the sky as far as the sky can reach3. Successive versions have:

Over the flight of ducks falling down into the water,4. Successive versions have:

over the fish floating and covering the beach5. Successive versions have:

Fishermen look up towards the sky so livid,6. Successive versions have:

on house rooftops, on street cobblestones,