O STRUMMOLE E U CASTELLETTO
 
Che bellu spasse, ca’ era stu’ jiuoche
ca’ girava pe’ terra, tirate a nu’ spave
tutte e guagliune, facevane a ruote
chi’ u girava in silenzie, e po’chi’ lu’cantava
 
Nu piezze e lignamme, fatto comme na’ pera
cu’nu’ chiuove per ponta, ca’ tuccave pe’ terra
chi’ lu pittava, e chi ce’ metteva pure a cera
erane e jiuoche e primma da’ guerra
 
Ognuno e nuie ca’ teneveme o trummole
ce’ senteveme grande, e chiu’ importante e late
ce’ scuntaveme pa’ via, pusaveme a mummula
e ce’ metteveme a pazzia’, e a jiuca cu lati

O teneveme dinta a sacca, cu’spave arrullate
pronto po’ sciarravuglia’ , e per farce fa’nu gire
e mamme noste aspettavene, nuie manca pa’capa
nun turnaveme a casa, senza fa’ primme nu’ tiro
 
Erane e jiuoche de’ guagliune puverielle
e de’ chille ca’ nun tenevene, manca a bicicletta
pazziaveme a strummole,. e po’ cu’ e nucelle
faceveme n’coppe o marciapiede, o castelletto
 
Accattavame e nucelle, addo’ Maria e Spiniello
scieglieveme cierte nucelle chiu’ grande,
cu’ chelle chiu’ pette facevame o castielle
e cu’ chelle chiu’ grosse e tiravame per danne
 
Tiraveme e nucelle chiu’ grosse cu’ na’ forza
Pe’ fa’ cade’ chell’ate ca’ stevene apparate
se senteve na botta, se’ vedevene e scorze
accussi’ e puverielle passavene a jiuurnata
 

di: Antonio De Girolamo

THE TOP AND THE HAZELNUTS GAMES
 
What an amusement was this game
spinning on the ground wound up by a string
all of us youngsters we use to compete
who would spin it silently, and whom added a hiss
 
A piece of wood shaped just like a pear
with a nail for a point that touched the ground
who it would paint it, and who it would wax it
It was the kids games of before the war times
 
All of us who owned a top
we felt big and more important than others
we met in the street we put down the water jogs
and started to play it and compete with each other
 
We had them in our pockets with the string rolled up
ready for winding it up and to let it spin
our mother would wait for us we didn’t give a damn
we didn’t get back home without playing it first
 
It was the games of poor youngsters
and of the once that didn’t even have a bicycle
we played with tops and than with hazelnuts
we played knock down the castle on the sidewalks
 
We use to buy the hazelnuts at Maria’s general store
than we selected some of them larger
with the small hazelnuts we made little castle
and with the larger ones we threw to let them fall down
 
we threw the larger hazelnuts with force
to let the castle fall down the way was set up
you would hear a big crack, you would see the empty shells
this is how the poor kids would pass the day.

by: Antonio De Girolamo