156. ‘I’ vidi in terra angelici constumi’

and heavenly beauty on terrestrial soil,

so I am sad and joyful at the memory,

and what I see seems dream, shadows, smoke:

and I saw two lovely eyes that wept,

that made the sun a thousand times jealous:

and I heard words emerge among sighs

that made the mountains move, and halted rivers.

Love, Judgement, Pity, Worth and Grief,

made a sweeter chorus of weeping

than any other heard beneath the moon:

and heaven so intent upon the harmony

no leaf was seen to move on the boughs,

so filled with sweetness were the wind and air.

Notes