287. ‘Sennuccio mio, benché doglioso et solo’

My Sennuccio, though you’ve left me

grieving and alone, I’m still comforted,

since you have taken flight on high,

from the dead flesh that held you.

Now you see both poles together,

the wandering planets on their circling path,

and see how limited our view of things,

so that I ease my grief with your joy.

And I truly pray that in the third sphere

you’ll meet Guittone, Messer Cino, and Dante,

our Franceschino, and all the choir of love.

You can tell my lady truly how much sorrow

I live in: and have become like a wild creature,

remembering her lovely face and sacred ways.

Note: Sennuccio del Bene died in 1349. The poets of love are in the third sphere of Venus, Cino da Pistoia (d. 1337), Dante (d. 1321), Guittone d’Arezzo (d. 1294) and Franceschino degli Albizzi (d. 1348) Petrarch’s relative.