{"id":236467,"date":"2026-02-05T15:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/carnevale-amore-non-muore\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T14:38:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T14:38:47","slug":"carnival-love-never-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/carnival-love-never-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Carnevale e l’amore che non muore – Carnival and the love that never dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carnevale e l’amore che non muore<\/span><\/h1>\n

Ho avuto un tuffo al cuore, quando ho visto che mi avevi chiamato.
\nMi sembrava un brutto scherzo, come un pupazzo di carnevale.
\nIndossi la maschera e ti fai vivo,
\nun sogno, una banda musicale che cammina nella notte festeggiando il carnevale.
\nMi ricordano i nostri carnevali, quando festeggiavamo insieme,
\namandoci senza paura, senza maschere.<\/p>\n

Sei sempre l’uomo che amai, che desiderai con tutta l’anima,
\nche mi spezz\u00f2 il cuore, ma il mio amore per te non \u00e8 mai morto.
\nSono passati pi\u00f9 di trent’anni, eppure il tempo non ha cancellato
\nil tuo ricordo, il tuo sorriso, la tua carezza.
\nIl mio cuore si ferma, ancora e sempre, al tuo pensiero.
\nPerch\u00e9 tu, amore mio, sei sempre stato il mio unico vero amore.<\/p>\n

Il tuo abbandono, la mia rabbia e la tua partenza
\nmi lasciarono un cuore vuoto, un amore senza fine.
\nMi hai inflitto un coltello alle spalle,
\ncos\u00ec oggi scrivo per te, per noi, per questo amore che non morir\u00e0.<\/p>\n

Sei tornato dopo tanto tempo, e vedo che mi segui da lontano,
\nun segno che, forse, anche tu non hai dimenticato.
\nUn brivido nel cuore, un dubbio nella mente:
\ncosa vuoi da me, dopo tutto questo tempo?
\nIo non lo so, ma \u00e8 certo che non si dimentica
\nquando quel carnevale lo passavamo amandoci…<\/p>\n

E ora, il mio cuore \u00e8 diviso
\ntra l’amore che ancora sento e la delusione che ho provato,
\nil dolore che mi tiene viva, sospesa nel tempo della memoria.
\nForse, in questo amore, che non c’\u00e8 stato e non ci sar\u00e0,
\ntrover\u00f2 la mia pace, e festegger\u00f2 mettendo una maschera di carnevale con un sorriso<\/p>\n

Zaira Sellerio<\/p>\n

Carnival and the love that never dies<\/span><\/h1>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Masked
Masked love Image by Grok<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Review<\/span><\/h2>\n

Zaira Sellerio, Sicilian writer and poet transplanted to Switzerland, author of powerful works such as Dal profondo del cuore<\/em> (From the Depths of the Heart<\/em>), a multi-award-winning autobiographical novel reprinted several times, L\u2019ultima valigia di cartone<\/em> (The Last Cardboard Suitcase<\/em>), a collection of poetry, and the recent Il coraggio \u00e8 femmina<\/em> (Courage Is Female<\/em>), 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Carnevale e l’amore che non muore<\/em> (Carnival and the Love That Never Dies<\/em>), 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 \u2013 female, vulnerable yet fiercely strong \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ending is an act of poetic dignity: she chooses to “celebrate” wearing a mask with a smile \u2013 not of joy, but of hard-won peace \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u2013 a discreet hymn to love that endures, even when wearing the cruelest mask: that of time\u2019s indifference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Success for the presentation of the book Il coraggio \u00e8 femmina at the Italian Chamber of Deputies<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Some awards and recognitions for her works<\/span><\/h2>\n