L'unica Superstite

At the tavern, the evening was falling
And Lilli was ready to go to sleep
Refugees and evacuees due to the curfew
Were returning to seek shelter
It was '44 in the mountains of Reggio
On the night of Saint John
The patrol discovered three partisans
Who had come to destroy the bridge
The partisans killed a German but another raised the alarm
The SS command decided to carry out an exemplary reprisal
At night, soldiers armed with submachine guns went house to house
They had orders to kill everyone, men, women, and children

They woke them up, gathered them in the kitchen, then fired a burst
Lilli fell between her grandparents covered in her and their blood
The soldiers had brought gasoline and set the houses on fire
But Lilli was alive, she managed to reach the window and let herself fall

But the house was burning and would fall
On Lilli like a coup de grâce
It's very difficult to escape far away
At eleven years old with a wounded throat

And she heard screams mixed with gunfire
And the beasts neighing wildly
And the metallic voices of the officers
And she felt the heat of the fire

They only found her in the morning
Wounded, burned, but alive
The postman put her on his bicycle
And took her to relatives in the plain
Then Lilli healed and the war ended
And the Germans left
But for many years she dreamed of gunfire
And her voice wouldn't come out

Now Lilli lives a peaceful life and is a grandmother to many grandchildren
But sometimes she wakes up with her eyes open in the dark
And sees the tavern in flames