“Contents” in “The Complete Canzoniere”
Contents
You who hear the sound, in scattered rhymes,
To make a graceful act of revenge,
It was on that day when the sun’s ray
What infinite providence and art
When I utter sighs, in calling out to you,
My passion’s folly is so led astray
Greed and sleep and slothful beds
At the foot of the hill where beauty’s garment
When the heavenly body that tells the hours
If my life of bitter torment and of tears
When from hour to hour among the other ladies
My weary eyes, there, while I turn you
I turn back at every step I take
Grizzled and white the old man leaves
Bitter tears pour down my face
When I have turned my eyes to that place
There are creatures in the world with such other
Ashamed sometimes that your beauty,
I have offered you my heart a thousand times
The time to labour, for every animal
I’ll sing of the sweet time of my first youth,
If the honoured branch that wards off
Love wept, and sometimes I wept with him,
No ship, beaten and conquered by the waves,
Charlemagne’s scion, whose head is adorned
O blessed and lovely spirit expected in Heaven
Green dresses, crimson, black or purple,
I saw a girl under green laurel
That gentle spirit that departs,
The closer I come to that last day
Already Venus, the star of love, was blazing
Apollo, if that sweet desire is still alive
Alone and thoughtful, through the most desolate fields,
If I believed I could free myself, by dying,
The thread on which my heavy life hangs
Orso, there never was lake or river
I’m the afraid of those lovely eyes’ assault
If Love or Death do not bring some flaw
When that tree that Apollo once loved
But now that her clear sweet humble smile
Apollo, Latona’s son, had sent his gaze
Caesar who was all too ready, in Thessaly,
Mirror, my enemy, in which you are allowed
The gold and pearls and flowers, crimson and white,
I felt those spirits weakening in my heart
Since fire is never quenched with fire,
Though I’ve protected you from lying,
At the moment when the swift sky turns
If the light had neared my eyes a little
Diana was not more pleasing to her lover,
Gentle spirit, that rules those members
Because she bore Love’s emblems in her aspect,
That fire that I thought had been quenched
If, through blind desire that destroys the heart,
My luck is always late and slow to reach me,
My dear lord, rest that cheek of yours
Though another’s fault takes me away
The gentle tree that I’ve loved many years,
We use cookies to analyze our traffic. Please decide if you are willing to accept cookies from our website. You can change this setting anytime in Privacy Settings.