228. ‘Amor co la man dextra il lato manco’

Love opened my left side with his right hand,

and set, in the centre of my heart,

a green laurel, so its colour truly

outshone every emerald and made it pale.

The pen’s furrow, the sighs from my side,

and the sweet moisture raining from my eyes,

so adorn it, that a fragrance rises to the skies,

that could never come from any other foliage.

Fame, Honour, Virtue, Grace,

chaste beauty in a heavenly dress,

are the roots of this noble plant.

So I carry it in my heart, wherever I am,

a happy burden: and with true prayer

I adore it, bowing as if to something holy.