Ciò che ritorna
Italiano
The water in the canal this morning held the sky so perfectly that I stopped — not to study it, as I once would have, not to measure the angle of incidence, the mathematics of reflection — but only to stand. La vecchiaia does this: removes the instrument from between the eye and the thing. Whether this is loss or gift I cannot yet say, and perhaps the question itself is the wrong question, the kind a young man asks because he believes there is an answer. The reeds at the edge moved. The reflection broke. The sky remained, above and below, indifferent to whether I was watching or not — and there was something in that indifference that felt, if not like grace, then like what grace might be preparing the ground for.
English
The water in the canal this morning held the sky so perfectly that I stopped — not to study it, as I once would have, not to measure the angle of incidence, the mathematics of reflection — but only to stand. Old age does this: removes the instrument from between the eye and the thing. Whether this is loss or gift I cannot yet say, and perhaps the question itself is the wrong question, the kind a young man asks because he believes there is an answer. The reeds at the edge moved. The reflection broke. The sky remained, above and below, indifferent to whether I was watching or not — and there was something in that indifference that felt, if not like grace, then like what grace might be preparing the ground for.
