201. ‘Mia ventura et Amor m’avean sí adorno’

with lovely gold and silk embroidery,

that almost at the height of bliss I thought

‘Whose hand was it that this surrounded?’

Nor does that day that made me rich

and poor, in an instant, ever return to mind,

without my being filled with grief and anger,

filled with shame and love’s disgrace,

because the noble prize I sought was not

more tightly grasped, and I was not

more firm against an angel’s mere request:

or, fleeing, without wings on my feet,

did not at least take vengeance on that hand

that drew so many tears from my eyes.

Note: The embroidered object is her glove.

Notes