Ligurian:
# Sandro Patron (1917–2004)

O Patron o l’é stæto un grande estimmatô do Firpo e o l’è anæto in scê seu orme; differente da lê, o l’à çercou de ciù a conrespondensa e a comunion co-i seu scimili, ma o gh’é stæto ben ben vexin into sentimento da natua, e inta grande attençion a-e cöse menue da vitta, che ghe paiva che parlessan un seu semprixe, eterno lenguaggio. Diplomou raxonê, o l’à provou – comme o conta lê mæximo inta prefaçion a-o seu primmo libbro de liriche – à addoçî a zeveggia vitta de scagno con un pittin de umaneximo, ch’o l’à attrovou da lê, in çercâ. O seu exòrdio inta poexia zeneise o l’é vegnuo co-a reduçion, ciaña e descorsciva, de l’argomento di Evangëi in ottave; euvia ch’a no presenta caratteri de particolâ originalitæ, ma che à seu tempo o l’à ottegnuo un successo degno de nòtta.

Da osservâ inte sta poexia l’estremma attençion a-o valô fònico da poula; un libeo alternâse de versci pariscillabi e impariscillabi rimmæ in varia mainea o crea unna cadensâ muxicalitæ tòsto ipnòtica, ch’a mette into lettô un senso de fatalitæ, de perlengheuia pensamentosa in scê ziñe da neutte fonda, tanto che quella ch’a porrieiva ëse a narraçion de un fæto commun a se carrega de scignificati e de alluxoin scimbòliche; comme l’é ciæo, sto compricou zeugo de rimme, asseunnançe e ascose reseunnançe o se perde areo inta verscion italiaña.

E alluxoin scimbòliche do Patron, sciben che s’assomeggian à quelle do Firpo, resultan a-o confronto ciù elaboræ, meno inmediæ.

Comme emmo dito, a poexia do Patron a se contraddistingue pe un attento zeugo de rimma e de asseunnançe, de longo intonou areo a-o cangiâ di stati d’animo e destinou à sottoliniâ a capaçitæ de l’autô à desvellâ un seu mondo libeo e creativo, da-e ambientaçioin de soventi notturne, in contrapoxiçion co-o mondo da veggia, de spesso deluddente e fatto.

English translation:
# Sandro Patrone (1917–2004)

Patrone was a great admirer of Firpo and strove to emulate him. Unlike him, however, he sought more of a connection and communion with his fellow man, but he was very close to him in his feeling for nature, and in his great attention to the small things of life, which seemed to him to speak their own simple, eternal language. A graduate in accountancy, he tried – as he himself recounts in the preface to his first volume of lyrics – to sweeten the arid life of a clerk with a pinch of humanism, which he found on his own by searching. His debut in Genoese poetry came with a flat and discursive reduction of the subject matter of the Gospels into octaves – a work that does not present characters of particular originality, but which achieved considerable success in its time.

Of note in this poem is the extreme attention to the phonic value of the word. A free alternation of variously rhymed parisyllabic and imparisyllabic verses creates a cadenced musicality that is almost hypnotic, inducing in the reader a sense of fatality, of pensive enchantment on the shores of deep night, so that what might be the narrative of a trivial fact becomes charged with meaning and symbolic allusions. Needless to say, this complex interplay of rhymes, assonances and occult resonances is completely lost in the Italian version.

Patrone’s symbolic allusions, while closely resembling Firpo’s, are by comparison more elaborate, less straightforward.

As noted above, Patrone’s poetry is characterized by a careful play of rhymes and assonances, always carefully tuned to changing moods and designed to underscore the author’s ability to reveal his own free and creative world, often nocturnal in its setting, as opposed to the frequently disappointing and slovenly waking world.