59. ‘Perché quel che mi trasse ad amar prima,’

Though another’s fault takes me away

from what drew me to my first bitterness,

I am not moved from my fixed desire.

Love hid the noose he caught me with

among that golden hair:

and cold ice came from those lovely eyes

that passed into my heart,

with the power of a sudden splendour,

that, merely remembering it, all other wishes

are driven from my soul.

Alas, since then, the sweet sight of that blonde hair

has been taken from me:

and the vanishing of those two true and lovely eyes

has saddened me with their flight:

but since dying well brings us honour,

despite grief or death,

I do not wish Love to loose me from this knot.