After Dark: A War Diary

A family of six arrive on foot —

asking if we had beds for them that night.

We put them up as best we could:

father, mother, uncles, three children.

They have come to Tuscany to pick up

their two little girls from school —

and another child from Montalcino.

They’ve lost everything they possess.

The tiny wife wears chaussures de villes

– her agony. I provide shoes for her.

Tomorrow, they will all walk on foot

to Montalcino to find their last child.

II.

All that was worthwhile

in the work we have done

for the last several years

is destroyed around us —

what is bad is still with us.

The house has only been hit

in two or three places –

damaged inside but reparable.

La Foce has had the honour

of mention in today’s midday

bulletin as ‘liberated’ – together

with Pienza and Montalcino.

III.

But we can hardly sit to listen

to the news now: we want to see

with our own eyes. Every minute

we feel the Allies may arrive!

Well, they have come – at last!

Scrambling up a grassy hillside,

we saw the first British helmet!

Beneath, the round, flushed face

of a young subaltern who (we heard

later) had no business being there

at all – reconnoitering on his own —

but we were happy to see him!

. . . . .

Poet: Susan Powers Bourne

Source: Iris Origo: An Italian War Diary

Process: Remix and montage