Renzo and Lucia

Alessandro Manzoni - I Promessi sposi - Chapter IX

"THE STRIKING of the boat against the shore aroused Lucia, who, after secretly drying her tears, raised her head as if she were just awaking. Renzo jumped out first, and gave his hand successively to Agnese and Lucia; and then they all turned, and sorrowfully thanked the boatman."

In Cernobbio, near Como,
on a bed of flowers rests
a small boat reminiscent
of the poignant moment
when  Renzo and Lucia,
a betrothed young couple,
leave tearfully their home
in a tiny wooden vessel
that in the local dialect
is known as a "battell".

The "Promessi Sposi"
is an involved and rending
love story that takes place 
in the time of the Milan plague.
in the year sixteen-thirty.
(And I can disclose that 
the tale has a happy ending).
The author tells it well
in a novel that's become
a literary masterpiece.

There's no war nowadays
in that region; the country
enjoys a relative peace
but, like 400 years ago,
when the plague decimated
half of Milan's population,
and spread nationwide,
a virulent virus has struck
although, with any luck,
we'll conquer it and survive.

© Luigi Pagano 2022