Day 22 & L-A: Mornings

• Manja Maksimovič

Today’s photos are from several morning dog walks in Rome last April for Lens-Artists challenge and Leya, and the poem is on the light, not to say fluffy side, almost like a pillow, the favourite thing about my mornings.

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Prompt 22: “Today, I’d like to challenge you to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture, and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem.” 

I decided to use mornings as a starting-point for my poem as well. I’ve got three languages, two cultures, one amore, one bestia and we all like mornings – they are really really good for sleeping.

The phrases that you don’t understand are translated below the poem. They all have to do with the notion that the day ought to be caught in the morning. You know what they also say: the early riser needs to carry the jacket around all day.

Barely risers

Il mattino ha l’oro in boccai,
they say over here.
Rana ura, zlata uraii,
they claim over there.
Ko rano rani, čitav dan zijevaiii,
say the ones to the right.
Early hour, the grave of Slovenian boys,
say I.
Sei ore dorme un corpo,
otto ore dorme un porcoiv,
you would say
if you saw us this morning,
all three of us,
how we woke up at 11.
Oink.

i Italian proverb: The morning has gold in its mouth.
ii Slovenian proverb: Early hour, golden hour.
iii Croatian joke: The early riser yawns all day.
iv Italian proverb: Six hours sleeps a body, eight hours sleeps a pig.

The photos are from last April when I was enjoying walking bestia in the mornings around Monteverde, since in spring Rome is at its most wonderful. All photos but the last four are from the first weekend in April.

After a long dry period we’ve had rain for a few days. It doesn’t add to the happy quarantine feeling. I should be going to Slovenia for a month right about now. In two days my friend will celebrate her big 50 without me, and I mine without her next month. Ah well. As long as we are still alive.

  • Italians are so stylish.
  • Cyclamen in the quarantine one year too early.
  • Spot the spotter.
  • This tree is like a puppet that is only pretending to be scary.
  • Open the door.
  • This door? It is closed, and looks like scratched from the outside.
  • In front of this church.
  • Fluffy.
  • Church window.
  • Non-church windows.
  • Locked up spring.
  • By the end of April blossoms stopped and fruit began.
  • The last weekend in April and the sky was more and more blue. If you click on the photo, you can view them again in a colourful gallery (unless you are on your phone).

For Day 22 of NaPoWriMo 2020

and

for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Leya of To See A World in a Grain of Sand…: Morning

23 thoughts on “Day 22 & L-A: Mornings”

  1. Beautiful gallery, Manja – as usual with several twists…Love the houses of course, but had to look three times for the spotter! “Locked up spring” reads my mind. ♥ And you are so right – “Ah well. As long as we are still alive.” Loved your hapless tree too – almost felt sorry for it. Stay well and celebrate birthdays together in autumn!

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    1. Thank you so much, Leya! Which hapless tree do you mean? The one pretending to be scary? Why sorry for it? Yeah, we will celebrate it all when we are together again. Until then I just refuse to get older, like Pippi. 🙂

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  9. Do you know that I didn’t know the Italian proverb about the pig and I have definitely loved the Croatian one? It perfectly represents my case 🤣… and thank you for sharing these wonderful windows

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  12. Pingback: Day 22 & CFFC: Water – An Embarrassment of Riches

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