152. ‘Questa humil fera, un cor di tigre o d’orsa’

This humble creature, with bear’s or tiger’s heart,

that comes with human face and angel’s form,

moves me to smiles and tears, in hope and fear,

so that my whole state is changeable.

If she does not receive or free me soon,

but keeps me like a man between two worlds,

by what I feel in my heart pass through my veins

sweet poison, Love, my life will be ended.

My fragile courage and my weariness

cannot withstand such shifting suffering now,

that I burn, freeze, blush and pale in a moment.

I hope to end my misery by fleeing,

like one who bit by bit vanishes:

for truly there’s no one who cannot die.