Sestina Terrona

My wife and I have come to sit and eat,
Amongst a couple other ex-pat friends,
In what’s considered the fourth, or the fifth,
Best pizzeria in Florence.
A yank of Sicilian descent,
I speak the northern way, myself though, “Terrone.”

The waiter nears and asks, “You know what means, ‘Terrone’?”
I nod. He says, “It’s not something you eat.”
“In class we study racial slurs along with Dante’s descent.
I know what it means and was talking to my friends.”
It’s not the best pizzeria in Florence.
It’s only the fourth or the fifth.

While we discuss favorite cantos, I claim the fifth.
Again comes our waiter, fond of saying “Terrone.”
I think next time we’ll reserve at the best place in Florence.
“So what might we think about for to eat?”
“For me pizza Margherita, I don’t know ‘bout my friends…
Back to Dante, It just gets too heavy further down the descent…”

“I prefer the farthest depths of the descent,
The late teens and twenties, aren’t you sick of the fifth?”
The waiter returns, interrupts, “I’ll guess where you’re from, you and your
friends.
You speak Milanese, but I can tell you’re terrone.”
“Look we just came to eat.”
“I’m the best guesser in Florence.

Can you tell by my accent, I’m also not from Florence?
I’ll stop if you find my intrusions not decent.
Once the food comes I no bother you when you eat.
You’re some generations removed, perhaps fourth or fifth.
It’s been some time since you were truly ‘Terrone.’
Your wife though, is Irish, she and her friends.

This is why you get along, you and your friends,
All of you together, on holiday, here in Florence.
I know many Irish who marry Sicilian, they are like maybe, ‘Northern terrone.’
If you’ve not yet seen Sicilia, make the descent.”
“I’m Pugliese and Sicilian, third generation, not fifth.”
“I knew it, you see, now I’ll leave you to eat.”

Whilst discussing with friends opinions on Dante’s descent,
At not the first best pizzeria in Florence, but the fourth or the fifth,
We learned we were each terrone, before being allowed to eat.