Anonymous poem: A Faun meets a Taormina shepherd

"In the most remote areas of Taormina's wilderness,

Young shepherds met fauns and satyrs, Pan and Dionysos,

Hidding behind a rock, vanishing in a flash, a flash of light.

Most of the time they were mere illusions, a reflection of the sun,

A mirage in Taormina's wilderness, at the peak of the hot wave,

Or just a noise of a rock falling down from a cliff...

But Pasqualino met a faun, a real faun, sitting on a rock,

Far away from the usual paths of Taormina's young shepherds,

So far that he was in the middle of nowhere...

"Are you a god or just an illusion ?", asked Pasqualino.

"Did I love you a long time ago, I am sure I know you",

Answered the faun with his Dionysiac horns...

"Cute shepherd of Taormina, please, play a melody for me,

A melody from your reed flute, perhaps I will sing one for you,

A song of love, of the love of gods for Taormina's shepherds...

Please, have a seat on this rock, beside me, let us sing and dream,

Hope and remember, love and be loved, let me tell you the legend of fauns,

Please tell me the story of your life, where you are from, what you dream about..."

And Pasqualino played the most beautiful of the tunes the boys of Taormina know,

A music wide as an horizon, deep as eyes, sensitive as a caressing hand,

A music of longing and sorrow, of dream and hope, of loneliness and communion.

Wilhelm von Gloeden's camera obscura was able to catch the magic of this encounter,

The encounter of a Faun and of a young shepherd from Taormina,

At the turn of a century, at the threshold of two worlds, reality and imagination.

While looking at this photograph, forever I can listen to this forgotten melody,

To the melody of Fauns meeting young shepherds in the most remote wilderness,

Of Fauns falling in love with them, and crossing the invisible border,

The border between gods and humans, between dream and reality,

Between hope and memory,

So far, so deep, at this crossroads where a lover meet his loved one".

Anonymous poet, around 1907, Von Gloeden Archive, 1907, call number 1907/Anon/12