145. ‘Pommi ove ’l sole occide i fiori et l’erba,’

Set me where the sun burns flowers and grass,

or where he’s conquered by the ice and snow:

set me beneath his temperate chariot,

where it rises or where it descends:

set me among the humble, or the proud,

in sweet calm air, or in the dark and sombre:

set me in night, in days long or short,

unripe in age, or of maturer years.

set me in heaven, on earth, or in the depths,

on a high hill, or deep in a marshy vale,

a spirit freed, or imprisoned in its limbs:

set me far from fame, or let me be known:

I’ll be what I have been, live as I’ve lived,

continuing my fifteen years of sighs.