File:Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, Er caffettiere fisolofo.ogg

English: Giuseppe Gioachino Belli was a roman poet who lived in Rome in the first half of the 19th century. At his time, Rome was under the roman catholic pope. He is the first who dared to write poems in the roman dialect which was - and is still - particularly coarse and direct.

In this sonnet, Er caffettiere fisolofo (The phisolopher barman), the coffe grinder is a metaphor of human life ...

Sonnet 815. The phisolopher barman

Human beings, in this world, are the same
as coffee beans in the coffee grinder
'cause at first one, then another and then one more
all, though, go to the same destiny.

They often change position
and the big bean often pushes away the small one
and they form a queue in front of the entry
to the metal that crashes them into thin powder

And human beings live on this world
manoeuvred by the hand of fate
which drives them round and round.

And each of them, moving fast or slow,
unaware of their fate, descend downwards
and fall into deaths' clutches

Quality of sound: tolerable

Quality of recitation: poor

To be used as an introduction to the reading.