Maplewood for Stradivari
Written by Dinko Telecan
Translated by the poet
Narrated by Bill Wolak
Stradivari’s nephew writes to his uncle from Bosnia:
which maple tree am I to choose?
Stradivari writes to his nephew from Cremona:
such a trunk you ought to find
which fought for its life on its own,
not a maple from a maple forest,
but a tree in a forest mixed,
on a soaring cliff,
a maple grown in utmost hardship,
for that’s a proper maple,
it has strength,
such a strength
that one day
after a lot of deafness
and a lot of giving up
in a song it will resound