Carnevale e l’amore che non muore

Ho avuto un tuffo al cuore, quando ho visto che mi avevi chiamato.
Mi sembrava un brutto scherzo, come un pupazzo di carnevale.
Indossi la maschera e ti fai vivo,
un sogno, una banda musicale che cammina nella notte festeggiando il carnevale.
Mi ricordano i nostri carnevali, quando festeggiavamo insieme,
amandoci senza paura, senza maschere.

Sei sempre l’uomo che amai, che desiderai con tutta l’anima,
che mi spezzò il cuore, ma il mio amore per te non è mai morto.
Sono passati più di trent’anni, eppure il tempo non ha cancellato
il tuo ricordo, il tuo sorriso, la tua carezza.
Il mio cuore si ferma, ancora e sempre, al tuo pensiero.
Perché tu, amore mio, sei sempre stato il mio unico vero amore.

Il tuo abbandono, la mia rabbia e la tua partenza
mi lasciarono un cuore vuoto, un amore senza fine.
Mi hai inflitto un coltello alle spalle,
così oggi scrivo per te, per noi, per questo amore che non morirà.

Sei tornato dopo tanto tempo, e vedo che mi segui da lontano,
un segno che, forse, anche tu non hai dimenticato.
Un brivido nel cuore, un dubbio nella mente:
cosa vuoi da me, dopo tutto questo tempo?
Io non lo so, ma è certo che non si dimentica
quando quel carnevale lo passavamo amandoci…

E ora, il mio cuore è diviso
tra l’amore che ancora sento e la delusione che ho provato,
il dolore che mi tiene viva, sospesa nel tempo della memoria.
Forse, in questo amore, che non c’è stato e non ci sarà,
troverò la mia pace, e festeggerò mettendo una maschera di carnevale con un sorriso

Zaira Sellerio

Carnival and the love that never dies

My heart skipped a beat when I saw that you had called me.
It felt like a cruel joke, like a carnival puppet.
You put on a mask and show up again,
a dream, a marching band walking through the night, celebrating Carnival.
They remind me of our Carnivals, when we celebrated together,
loving each other without fear, without masks.

You are still the man I loved, the man I desired with all my soul,
the one who broke my heart, yet my love for you has never died.
More than thirty years have passed, and yet time has not erased
your memory, your smile, your touch.
My heart still stops, again and always, at the thought of you.
Because you, my love, have always been my one true love.

Your abandonment, my anger, and your departure
left me with an empty heart, a love without end.
You stabbed me in the back,
and so today I write for you, for us, for this love that will never die.

You returned after so long, and I see that you follow me from afar,
a sign that perhaps you, too, have not forgotten.
A shiver in my heart, a doubt in my mind:
what do you want from me, after all this time?
I do not know, but one thing is certain:
you never forget when that Carnival we spent loving each other…

And now my heart is divided
between the love I still feel and the disappointment I endured,
the pain that keeps me alive, suspended in the time of memory.
Perhaps, in this love that never was and never will be,
I will find my peace, and I will celebrate,
putting on a Carnival mask with a smile.

Review

Zaira Sellerio, Sicilian writer and poet transplanted to Switzerland, author of powerful works such as Dal profondo del cuore (From the Depths of the Heart), a multi-award-winning autobiographical novel reprinted several times, L’ultima valigia di cartone (The Last Cardboard Suitcase), a collection of poetry, and the recent Il coraggio è femmina (Courage Is Female), which celebrates female resilience, returns with a new poem that once again delves into the intimacy of the soul, this time infused with a carnivalesque and universal melancholy.

In Carnevale e l’amore che non muore (Carnival and the Love That Never Dies), Carnival is not just a fleeting celebration: it is a cruel mirror of the passing of time, of the masks that hide wounds never healed, and of a love that, though betrayed and abandoned, stubbornly refuses to die. The narrator – female, vulnerable yet fiercely strong – relives an entire existence in a few verses: the Carnivals shared without pretense, the abandonment that arrives like a “knife in the back,” thirty years of silence and persistent memory, and finally his sudden return, revealed through a simple call, a “following me from afar,” as if the pain inflicted were merely a detail lost in the festive night.

Sellerio masters a sparse, almost conversational language that amplifies the emotional impact: short sentences, repetitions that mimic the accelerated heartbeat (“again and always,” “has never died”), vivid images such as the marching band in the night or the carnival puppet that deceives. The contrast is powerful: on one side, the surreal lightness of his reappearance (“you show up” after decades), on the other, the weight of the preserved pain, the restrained anger, the inner division between lingering love and renewed disappointment.

The ending is an act of poetic dignity: she chooses to “celebrate” wearing a mask with a smile – not of joy, but of hard-won peace – in a love that “never was and never will be.” It is a love that survives in disguise, suspended in memory, transforming the wound into quiet strength.

This poem is a small masterpiece of female introspection: it does not shout, it does not accuse, but whispers with clarity and grace the paradox of one who still loves despite everything. Sellerio confirms her authentic voice, capable of transforming the personal into the universal, pain into lyrical beauty. Touching, sincere, unforgettable – a discreet hymn to love that endures, even when wearing the cruelest mask: that of time’s indifference.

Success for the presentation of the book Il coraggio è femmina at the Italian Chamber of Deputies

Some awards and recognitions for her works

National Poetry Prize “Arturo Massimi” in October 1999, Mentana – Rome.
Plaque for the narrative prize at the international competition “Pelosa” in Messina, November 2000.
Poetry plaque awarded by the Province of Rome, October 2000.
International Competition “Antonio de Curtis” in Rome.
Poets and Society Prize, German-Swiss delegation (international competition, honorable mention).
Unpublished Poetry Prize, 5th edition of the “L’attualità – Bartolucci” prize, finalist diploma, October 27, 2001.
International Artistic-Literary Competition “Antonio de Curtis – Totò,” Rome, October 22, 2002.
ALIAS (Italian-Australian Writers’ Academy, in collaboration with C.R.A.S.E.S. in Palermo).
International Literary Competition, 3rd ex-aequo poetry prize, October 10, 2003.
First Poetry Prize at the “Il Salotto dell’Arte” gallery, Rome, March 22, 2009.
“A Life for Culture” Prize, “Il Salotto dell’Arte” gallery, Rome.
4th International Literary Prize “Europa” for the novel From the Depths of the Heart, May 11, 2014, Lugano.
2nd Navarro Prize for the novel From the Depths of the Heart, May 13, 2018, Sambuca di Sicilia – Sicily.
Special Lilly Broggi Prize “La Pergola Arte” for the novel From the Depths of the Heart, Florence, October 27, 2018.
5th Prize for the novel From the Depths of the Heart at Versilia Club “Massa, Fairy-Tale City of Sea and Marble,” September 28, 2019.
1st International Prize dedicated to the female universe “Donne d’Amore” V. Barrett, poetry section for “On the Steps of Piazza di Spagna.”
1st Prize for the literature section – novel, for the text Courage Is Female, Rome, May 22, 2023.
Poetry Prize “At Your Feet,” city of Mercogliano (AV), for the poem “And There I Met My Mother,” September 8, 2024.
11th Edition San Valentino Prize – City of Atripalda (AV) – Cupido World Wide Section, for the poem “Ich habe dich geliebt” (I Loved You), April 26–27, 2025