SICILIA ANTICA

“The leaves of memory seemed to make a mournful rustling in the dark.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We were looking at some old photo albums today and while leafing through one of the ones that contained photos of a trip to Sicily taken about ten years ago I remembered a beautiful summer night in Palermo and a song that we heard while sitting on a terrace. It was night, with a full moon and gazing at the sparkling silver sea, this song wafted up from an open window. I looked it up on YouTube and here it is, evocative now as it was then. Nostalgic and reminiscent of a folk song, even then it bemoaned the times gone and never to return again. Now, it brings those memories to mind and is reminiscent of happy times that have gone by.

Sicilia Antica – Old Sicily
Marcella Bella

Born of sea and flowers,
Earth of love, you’ll never die.
Wheat-fields, burnt by the sun,
There, where I left my first love.

Old Sicily in my heart,
How many treasures in you!

People with dry faces, hard eyes,
But in their hearts much warmth.
These are my people, who sing easily
Whose work makes them happy.

Old Sicily in my heart,
How many treasures in you!

In sea and sun I was born,
Son of an earth that exists no more.
In my mind return a thousand alleys,
There, where I left my best memories.

Old Sicily, salt of the earth,
You’ll never return, like my first love!