BINDER
Compose
Africa Italy Love War
2023 - EN / REALMATTER
All will be April
RealMatter
#22
Preface
William Durante was my maternal grandfather.
I never met him, but my mother chose my middle name, ‘William,’ after him.
I have therefore always carried William with me.
Apart from that, I know very little about this grandfather of mine. I know that he was one of the first taxi drivers in Naples and I know that he once agreed to take a customer all the way to Paris.
And I know that he couldn’t bear to be alone after the untimely death of his beloved wife Anna.
My mother told me about her parents through the tale of this love - without reservation, without excess and without restraint.
My grandfather William was sent to Africa as a soldier in the late 1930s. He was forced to leave his wife and newborn daughter behind to take part in a military campaign on a faraway continent. From there, he sent these letters to Anna. In them, I recognised and rediscovered the love my mother used to tell me about. A love that, as William said, does not die.
Foreword
In the hospital, not knowing how to pass the time, I amused myself by writing a few things, only for you.
I am not a poet, but this great melancholy - especially in a hospital - somewhat inspired me.
The heart shattered by distance dictated these poor verses, and I wrote them down.
All will be April
Fever
Sleepless
Farther and farther away