Mother’s Day is coming up! The second Sunday of May is recognised in Italy, as well as many other countries around the world, as Mother’s Day (la Festa della Mamma) – the day to celebrate our amazing mothers. In Italy, Mother’s Day as it is celebrated today is a relatively new holiday. This holiday and its celebrations started in the United States and slowly spread around the globe after World War II.
To help you get in the mood of celebrating your dear mother, or to remind yourself of your beauty and importance as a mother, here is a short list of Italian poems translated into English. Each poem is a tribute to the kindness mothers bestow upon their children, the sacrifices mothers make to bare and then raise a family, and the inner and outer beauty of all mothers, old and young.
Vi vogliamo bene, tutte le mamme nel mondo!
1. Mi Ha Fatto La Mia Mamma (My Mom Made Me)
Gianni Rodari
Persone male informate
o più bugiarde del diavolo
dicono che tu sei nato
sotto a una foglia di cavolo.
Altri maligni invece
sostengono senza vergogna:
Sei venuto al mondo
a bordo di una cicogna.
Se mamma ti ha comperato
come taluni pretendono
dimmi: dov’è il negozio
dove i bambini si vendono.
Tali notizie sono
prive di fondamento,
ti ha fatto la tua mamma
e devi essere contento.
Misinformed people
or more liars than the devil
say that you were born
under a leaf of cabbage.
Other evils instead
claim without shame:
You came to the world
on board a stork.
If Mom bought you
like some pretend
tell me: where is the store
where the children are sold.
Such knowledge is
devoid of reason,
your mom made you
and you should be happy.
2. La Mamma (Mom)
Ada Negri
La mamma non è più giovane
e ha già molti capelli
grigi: ma la sua voce è squillante
di ragazzetta e tutto in lei è chiaro
ed energico: il passo, il movimento,
lo sguardo, la parola.
Mom is not young anymore
and already has many
grey hairs: but her voice is bright
like a little girl and everything in her is clear and energetic: her step, her movement, her look, her word.
3. La Mamma (Mom)
Roberto Piumini
Due braccia che m’abbracciano,
due labbra che baciano,
due occhi che mi guardano,
e mani che accarezzano
e sento un buon odore
e sento un bel sapore:
la mamma è questo per me
e molto ancora:
la mamma è una dolcissima signora.
Two arms that hug me,
two lips that kiss,
two eyes that watch over me,
and hands that caress
and I smell a good smell
and I taste a nice taste:
Mom is this for me
and much more:
Mom is a very sweet lady.
4. La Parola Più Bella (The Most Beautiful Word)
Marino Moretti
Mamma. Nessuna parola è più bella.
La prima che si impara,
la prima che si capisce e che s’ama.
La prima di una lunga serie di parole
con cui s’è risposto alle infinite,
alle amorose, timorose domande
della maternità.
E anche se diventassimo vecchi,
come chiameremmo la mamma
più vecchia di noi?
Mamma.
Non c’è un altro nome
Mom. No word is more beautiful.
The first that you learn,
the first that you understand and love.
The first of a long series of words with which is
responded to the infinite,
to the loving, fearful questions
of motherhood.
And even if we grow old,
What would we call Mom
older than us?
Mom.
There is no other name.
5. Maternità (Motherhood)
Ada Negri
Io sento, dal profondo, un’esile voce chiamarmi:
sei tu, non nato ancora, che vieni nel sonno a
destarmi?
O vita, o vita nova!… le viscere mie palpitanti
trasalgono in sussulti che sono i tuoi baci, i tuoi
pianti.
Tu sei l’Ignoto.—Forse pel tuo disperato dolore
ti nutro col mio sangue, e formo il tuo cor col
mio core;
pure io stendo le mani con gesto di lenta
carezza,
io rido, ebra di vita, a un sogno di forza e
bellezza:
t’amo e t’invoco, o figlio, in nome del bene e del
male,
poi che ti chiama al mondo la sacra Natura
immortale.
E penso a quante donne, ne l’ora che trepida
avanza,
sale dal grembo al core la stessa devota
speranza!…
Han tutte ne lo sguardo la gioia e il tremor del
mistero
ch’apre il lor seno a un essere novello di carne e
pensiero;
urne d’amore, in alto su l’uomo e la fredda
scïenza,
come su altar, le pone del germe l’inconscia
potenza.
È sacro il germe: è tutto: la forza, la luce,
l’amore:
sia benedetto il ventre che il partorirà con
dolore.
I hear, from within, a frail voice call me:
is it you, not yet born, that comes in my sleep to
awaken me?
O life, o new life!… My pulsating guts
they start in gasps that are your kisses, your
cries.
You are the Unknown. –Maybe for your
desperate pain
I nourish you with my blood, and I form your
heart with my heart;
Also I stretch out my hands with the gesture of
a slow caress,
I laugh, drunk with life, to a dream of strength
and beauty:
I love you and I beseech you, o son, in the name
of good and evil,
then the sacred immortal Nature calls you to
the world.
And I think of so many women, in the hour that
anxiously advances,
the same devout hope rises from the womb to
the heart!…
They all have in their gaze the joy and the
trepidation of the mystery
that opens their breast to a newborn being of
flesh and thought;
urns of love, high above man and cold science,
like on the altar, he gives to her the
unconscious power of seeds.
The seed is sacred: it is everything: the strength,
the light, the love:
Blessed be the womb that will give birth with pain.
Related articles:
- What is the meaning of “Mamma mia!”?
- The difference between Mia mamma, La mia mamma and La mamma
- How to say “Happy Mother’s Day” in Italian
- How to say “Mom” in Italian
- Quotes and Sayings about Mothers in Italian
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
