The Daily Glance
Cindy Savett's Child in the Road is a book I have avoided since I received a copy of it in early 2009. On the front cover is a picture of a little brown-haired girl in ponytails on a wooded road, and the dedication of the book is for Rachel, and we're given her dates from 1991 to 2000--just about the same age as Giuseppe Ungaretti's son who died and whom he commemorated with his phenomenal poem "Tu ti spezzasti"** I have a little girl with brown hair who often wears ponytails, so I could not read this book without tearing up. It is essentially a book of grief and commemoration of the loss of a child. Savett's writing is very graceful, so the book feels more like a writing through of grief than a screaming lament.
I grieve for your eyes
for the night's white
breath
the river growing
wild
in the absence of a name
your mouth untended
pale horizon
of seasons gone
silence of mingled
words
that bracket the day
Ungaretti's poem burned its way into my consciousness the first time I read it, and it has stayed just on the surface for years. I imagine the same will happen with many of the pieces from Savett's book.
**I could not find a quick translation online, but several good translations of Ungaretti's work are available. This poem is one that touches me deeply, with it beautiful lines "You raised your arms like wings / and gave birth to the wind."
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