The helmet now an hive for bees becomes,
And hilts of swords may serve for spiders’ looms;
Sharp pikes may make
Teeth for a rake;
And the keen blade, th’arch enemy of life,
Shall be degraded to a pruning knife.
The rustic spade
Which first was made
For honest agriculture, shall retake
Its primitive employment, and forsake
The rampires steep
And trenches deep.
Tame conies in our brazen guns shall breed,
Or gentle doves their young ones there shall feed.
In musket barrels
Mice shall raise quarrels
For their quarters. The ventriloquious drum,
Like lawyers in vacations, shall be dumb.
Now all recruits,
But those of fruits,
Shall be forgot; and th’unarmed soldier
Shall only boast of what he did whilere,
In chimney’s ends
Among his friends.
And hilts of swords may serve for spiders’ looms;
Sharp pikes may make
Teeth for a rake;
And the keen blade, th’arch enemy of life,
Shall be degraded to a pruning knife.
The rustic spade
Which first was made
For honest agriculture, shall retake
Its primitive employment, and forsake
The rampires steep
And trenches deep.
Tame conies in our brazen guns shall breed,
Or gentle doves their young ones there shall feed.
In musket barrels
Mice shall raise quarrels
For their quarters. The ventriloquious drum,
Like lawyers in vacations, shall be dumb.
Now all recruits,
But those of fruits,
Shall be forgot; and th’unarmed soldier
Shall only boast of what he did whilere,
In chimney’s ends
Among his friends.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2016/1/20 - 11:08
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Versi di Ralph Knevet, sacerdote e poete seicentesco inglese, originario di Norfolk, prima cappellano di una famiglia aristocratica e poi pastore del villaggio di Lyng.
Musica del compositore inglese Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), per la cantata “Farewell To Arms, Op. 9” composta nel 1944 (?) e basata su questo sonetto seicentesco ed un altro del 500 – ai nostri fini meno significativo, a mio parere – di George Peele (c.1558–1597), poeta, traduttore e drammaturgo che fu amico e collaboratore di Shakespeare.
Testo trovato su Lieder.net
La cosa curiosa è che i due sonetti condividono un verso, evidentemente un modo di dire antico, “Ora nell’elmo fanno il nido le api”, come fossero le nostre espressioni “Appendere il fucile al chiodo” o “Gettare la pistola alle ortiche”…
Quello dell’elmo trasformato in alveare è un emblema dell’araldica inglese del 500, che trovo qui accompagnato dal seguente motto latino:
Saepius hostili sparsa cruore fuit:
Parta pace apibus tenuis concessit in usum
Alveoli, atque favos, grataque mella gerit.
Arma procul iaceant: fas sit tunc sumere bellum:
Quando aliter pacis non potes arte frui
Che tradotto in inglese è: “See here a helmet which a fearless soldier previously wore and which was often spattered with enemy blood. After peace was won, it retired to be used as a narrow hive for bees; it holds honey-combs and nice honey. - Let weapons lie far off; let it be right to embark on war only when you cannot in any other way enjoy the art of peace.”
“…Non tenete le armi sempre pronte. Fate che la guerra sia possibile solo quando non sia possibile godere altrimenti dell’arte della pace.”
Penso si possa dire che nel 500 questa poteva essere una posizione abbastanza “pacifista”…