218. ‘Tra quantunque leggiadre donne et belle’

When she’s among graceful and lovely ladies

she who has no equal in the world,

her face has the same effect on others,

as the daylight has on the lesser stars.

Love seems to whisper in my ear,

saying: ‘Life will be beautiful while she

is visible in this world: then I’ll see it troubled,

virtue and my kingdom will die with her.

As if Nature were to take the sun and moon

from the sky, winds from the air, leaves

and grass from the earth, intellect and speech

from man, and fish and waves from the seas:

so much and more would things be dark and lonely,

if Death closed her eyes and hid her away.’