Nummeri

A 1944 poem by Trilussa, a poet who wrote in Roman dialect (the rhymless translation won’t do him justice):

Numbers

I may count little, it’s true
-said the One to the Zero-
But what’s your worth? Nothing: just nothing.
Both in action and in thought
You remain an empty and inconclusive thing.
I, instead, if I put myself in front of a line
of five zero exactly like you,
do you know what I become? One hundred thousand.
It’s a question of numbers. Just like
What happens to the tyrant
Whose power and value grow
The more the zeros who follow him.

Nummeri

Contero’ poco, e’ vero
-diceva l’Uno ar Zero –
Ma tu che vali? Gnente: proprio gnente.
Sia ne l’azzione come ner penziero
rimani un coso voto e inconcrudente.
Io, invece, se me metto a capofila
de cinque zeri tale e quale a te,
lo sai quanto divento? Centomila.
E’ questione de nummeri. A un dipresso
E’ quello che succeede ar dittatore
Che cresce de potenza e di valore
Piu’ so’ li zeri che je vanno appresso.