Il Frate - Francesco Guccini

Lo chiamavano «Il frate», il nome di tutta una vita

Segno di una fede perduta, di una vocazione finita

Lo vedevi arrivare vestito di stracci e stranezza

Mentre la malizia dei bimbi rideva della sua saggezza…

Dopo un bicchiere di vino, con frasi un po' ironiche e amare

Parlava in tedesco e in latino, parlava di Dio e Schopenhauer

E parlava, parlava, con me che lo stavo a sentire

Mentre la sera d’estate non voleva morire…

Viveva di tutto e di niente, di vino che muove i ricordi

Di carità della gente, di dei e filosofi sordi…

Chiacchiere d’un ubriaco con salti di tempo e di spazio

Storie di sbornie e di amori che non capivano Orazio…

E quelle sere d’estate sapevan di vino e di scienza

Con me che lo stavo a sentire con colta benevolenza

Ma non ho ancora capito, mentre lo stavo a ascoltare

Chi fosse a prendere in giro, chi dei due fosse a imparare…

Ma non ho ancora capito, fra risa per donne e per Dio

Se fosse lui il disperato o il disperato son io…

Ma non ho ancora capito con la mia cultura fasulla

Chi avesse capito la vita, chi non capisse ancor nulla…

They called him "Il frate", the name of a whole life

Sign of a lost faith, of a finished vocation

You saw him arrive dressed in rags and strangeness

While the malice of the children laughed at his wisdom ...

After a glass of wine, with somewhat ironic and bitter phrases

He spoke in German and Latin, he spoke of God and Schopenhauer

And he talked, talked, with me who was listening to him

While on a summer evening he didn't want to die ...

He lived on everything and nothing, on wine that moves memories

Of people's charity, of deaf gods and philosophers ...

Chat of a drunkard with jumps of time and space

Stories of hangovers and loves that Horace did not understand ...

And those summer evenings smelled of wine and science

With me who was listening to him with cultured benevolence

But I still didn't understand, as I listened to him

Who was the fool, which of the two was learning ...

But I still haven't understood, between laughter for women and for God

If he was the desperate or the desperate, I am ...

But I still don't get it with my bogus culture

Who had understood life, who still did not understand anything ...