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Nessun Dorma
after the Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami and
Renato Simoni
The aria “Nessun Dorma” was played for Donald and
Melania Trump’s first dance at their wedding in 2005.
No sleep tonight. The city will not sleep.
And you too, princess, in your chilly suite,
Go to the window, look out at the stars.
It’s love, it’s hope that make them tremble so.
I am the master of my mystery.
I am the only knower of my name.
No one will guess until upon your mouth
I speak its shape when morning takes the sky.
The whisper of my kiss will make it melt,
That silence of your lips that says you’re mine.
(He is the only knower of his name.
We’ll swing from nooses if that bastard wins.)
O night, be gone! And, stars, beat your retreat.
Abandon, stars, the battlefield to me.
When morning comes and turns the skyline soft,
At early dawn I’ll conquer. I will win!
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Monika Cooper is an American family woman.
Very enjoyable poem. I especially like the lines “I am the master of my mystery. I am the only knower of my name.”, “The whisper of my kiss will make it melt”.
Thank you, Cheryl. They were fun lines to write.
Thank you for rendering the libretto into such a clear and moving interpretation, Monika. While I’ve been long familiar with Nessun Dorma, the meaning was only vaguely known to me. What rousing and epic words these are! How fitting too they are for this moment in history.
Thank you, Evan. And Amen about this moment in history. It cries out for poetic articulation.