CESARE PAVESE – THE CATS WILL KNOW (poem from: Death will come and will have your eyes) ENG

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Cesare Pavese

The cats will know

“The cats will know” is a poem by Cesare Pavese from collection of poems: “Death will come and will have your eyes“.

“The cats will know” is the original poem’s title by italian poet Cesare Pavese; in English beacause written for his last unrequited love: that for the american actress Constance Connie Dowling.

The Cats Will Know

Rain will fall again

on your smooth pavement,

a light rain like

a breath or a step.

The breeze and the dawn

will flourish again

when you return,

as if beneath your step.

Between flowers and sills

the cats will know.

There will be other days,

there will be other voices.

You will smile alone.

The cats will know.

You will hear words

old and spent and useless

like costumes left over

from yesterday’s parties.

You too will make gestures.

You’ll answer with words—

face of springtime,

you too will make gestures.

The cats will know,

face of springtime;

and the light rain

and the hyacinth dawn

that wrench the heart of him

who hopes no more for you-

they are the sad smile

you smile by yourself.

There will be other days,

other voices and renewals.

Face of springtime,

We will suffer at daybreak.

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