89. ‘Fuggendo la pregione ove Amor m’ebbe’

Fleeing the prison where Love for many years

had done with me whatever it was he wished,

it would be a long story to recount

how my newfound freedom troubled me.

My heart told me it did not know how

to live alone a day: and then that traitor Love

appeared in my path, so well disguised

he’d have deceived a wiser man than me.

So that many times, sighing within,

I said: ‘Ah me, the yoke, the log, the chains,

were much sweeter than this walking free.

Alas for me, I saw my ills too late:

and how hard it is for me today to turn

away from error, where I entwined myself!