Petrarch (16 page)

those eyes of yours that Love and Heaven honor

enamors you
with beauties not its own

but
sweet and happy supernaturally
.

On his advice
, lady, you have
expelled me

from the sweet place that I had made my home:

miserable exile! though I
may not be

worthy to dwell where you alone reside.

But since I had been fixed there
by strong nails
,

no mirror
should have made you harsh and proud

against me since you pleased yourself therein.

Indeed, if you recall to mind Narcissus,

both this and that course
lead to the same end
—

although no grass is fit
for such a flower.

L’oro et le perle e i fior vermigli e i bianchi

che ’l verno devria far languidi et secchi

son per me acerbi et velenosi stecchi

ch’ io provo per lo petto et per li fianchi.

Però i dì miei fien lagrimosi et manchi,

chè gran duol rade volte aven che ’nvecchi;

ma più ne colpo i micidiali specchi

che ’n vagheggiar voi stessa avete stanchi.

Questi poser silenzio al signor mio

che per me vi pregava, ond’ ei si tacque

veggendo in voi finir vostro desio;

questi fuor fabbricati sopra l’acque

d’abisso et tinti ne l’eterno oblio

onde ’l principio de mia morte nacque.

Io sentia dentr’ al cor già venir meno

gli spirti che da voi ricevon vita;

et perché naturalmente s’aita

contra la morte ogni animal terreno,

largai ’l desio che i’ teng’ or molto a freno

et misil per la via quasi smarrita

però che di e notte indi m’invita

et io contra sua voglia altronde ’l meno,

et mi condusse vergognoso et tardo

a riveder gli occhi leggiadri ond’ io

per non esser lor grave assai mi guardo.

Vivrommi un tempo omai, ch’ al viver mio

tanta virtude à sol un vostro sguardo;

et poi morrò, s’ io non credo al desio.

The gold and pearls
, the flowers red and white

that winter should have weakened
and dried up

are only
bitter, poisonous thorns
for me

that I feel
in my breast and in my sides.

And so my days will be tearful and short,

for seldom does
great sorrow grow in years;

but I accuse those murderous mirrors more

that you,
loving yourself
, have tired out.

And they imposed silence upon my lord

who prayed to you for me, and
he was speechless

to see that
your desire was for you
;

such mirrors were constructed
on Hell’s waters

and tempered in
forgetfulness eternal

whence the
beginning of my death
was born.

I felt within my heart
already failing

those spirits that receive their life from you;

and since against death it is nature’s rule

for every mortal animal to fight
,

I freed desire
, that now I keep in check,

and put it on the
path I almost lost

(though night and day it calls me to be there,

against its will I
lead it somewhere else
),

and then he led me, late and full of shame

to see again your lovely eyes which I,

not to offend them,
carefully avoid
.

I’ll have a little longer now to live,

for one glance has such power for my life;

I’ll die then
if I don’t obey desire.

Se mai foco per foco non si spense

né fiume fu giamai secco per pioggia,

ma sempre l’un per l’altro simil poggia

et spesso l’un contrario l’altro accense,

Amor, tu che’ pensier nostri dispense,

al qual un’aima in due corpi s’appoggia,

perché fai in lei con disusata foggia

men per molto voler le voglie intense?

Forse sì come ’l Nil d’alto caggendo

col gran suono i vicin d’intorno assorda,

e’l sole abbaglia chi ben fiso ’l guarda,

cosi ’l desio che seco non s’accorda

ne lo sfrenato obietto vien perdendo,

et per troppo spronar la fuga è tarda.

Perch’ io t’abbia guardata di menzogna

a mio podere et onorato assai,

ingrata lingua, già però non m’ài

renduto onor, ma fatto ira et vergogna;

ché quanto più ’l tuo aiuto mi bisogna

per dimandar mercede, allor ti stai

sempre più fredda, et se parole fai

son imperfette et quasi d’uom che sogna!

Lagrime triste, et voi tutte le notti

m’accompagnate ov’ io vorrei star solo,

poi fuggite dinanzi a la mia pace!

Et voi, sì pronti a darmi angoscia et duolo,

sospiri, allor traete lenti et rotti!

Solo la vista mia del cor non tace.

If fire by fire has never been extinguished

nor river ever dried up by the rain,

but always things alike grow with their like,

and often
contrasts will increase
each other,

Love, you the ruler of
our every thought
,

on whom depends one soul within two bodies,

why in my soul, contrarily, do you,

by wanting much,
strengthen desire less
?

Perhaps,
just as the Nile
that falls from high

with its great sound deafens all those nearby,

as sun dazzles the one who stares at it,

so a desire that is not in proportion

loses itself in
something too immense
,

and too much spurring can slow down the flight.

Though I have always kept you from all lies

as best I could and paid you greatest honor,

ungrateful tongue, you, nonetheless have never

repaid the honor, but brought me shame and anger;

the more I am in
need of your assistance

to ask for mercy, all the more you grow

still colder
, and should you utter some words,

they are broken
, as
spoken in a dream
.

Tears full of grief, you too through all those nights

are with me when I’d rather stay alone,

then you desert me
when my peace is present
!

And you,
so quick
to bring me grief and pain,

my sighs, at that point come forth slow and broken!

Only my look
breaks silence for the heart.

Ne la stagion che ’l ciel rapido inchina

verso occidente, et che ’l di nostro vola

a gente che di là forse l’aspetta,

veggendosi in lontan paese sola

la stanca vecchiarella pellegrina

raddoppia i passi et più et più s’affretta;

et poi così soletta

al fin di sua giornata

talora è consolata

d’alcun breve riposo, ov’ ella oblia

la noia e ’l mal de la passata via.

Ma, lasso, ogni dolor che ’l di m’adduce

cresce qualor s’invia

per partirsi da noi l’eterna luce.

Come ’l sol volga le ’nfiammate rote

per dar luogo a la notte, onde discende

dagli altissimi monti maggior l’ombra,

l’avaro zappador l’arme riprende

et con parole et con alpestri note

ogni gravezza del suo petto sgombra;

et poi la mensa ingombra

di povere vivande

simili a quelle ghiande

le qua’ fuggendo turto ’l mondo onora.

Ma chi vuol si rallegri ad ora ad ora,

ch’ i’ pur non ebbi ancor, non dirò lieta,

ma riposata un’ora,

né per volger di ciel né di pianeta.

Quando vede ’l pastor calare i raggi

del gran pianeta al nido ov’ egli alberga

e ’mbrunir le contrade d’oriente,

drizzasi in piedi et co l’usata verga,

lassando l’erba et le fontane e i faggi,

move la schiera sua soavemente;

poi lontan da la gente

o casetta o spelunca

di verdi frondi ingiunca,

ivi senza pensier s’adagia et dorme.

It is the time
the rapid heavens
bend

toward the West, the time our own day flees

to some
expectant race
beyond, perhaps,

the time an old and weary pilgrim-woman

feeling the loneliness of foreign lands,

doubles her pace
, hastening more and more;

and then at her day’s end,

though she is all alone,

at least she is consoled

by resting and forgetting for awhile

the labour and the pain of her past road.

But, oh
, whatever pain the day brings me

grows more and more the moment

the
eternal light begins to fade
from us.

When the sun’s burning wheels
begin to flame
,

in order to give way to night, and
shadows

are now cast deeper by the highest mountains,

the
avid workman
packs away his tools

and with the words of mountain songs he clears

the weight of that day’s labour from his chest;

and then he spreads his table

all full of meager food

like acorns of whose praises

the whole world sings
and manages to shun.

But let who will find joy from time to time,

for I’ve not had, I will not say a happy,

but just one restful hour,

for all the turning
of the sky and stars.

And when the shepherd sees the great sphere’s rays

are falling toward the nest
in which it dwells

and in the east the country turning dark,

he stands up straight and with his trusty crook,

he leaves the
grass and springs and beech’s shade
,

moving his flock quietly on its way;

then far away from people

a hut or kind of cave

he weaves out of green leaves
,

and there without a care he lies and sleeps.

Ahi crudo Amor, ma tu allor più m’informe

a seguir d’una fera che mi strugge

la voce e i passi et l’orme,

et lei non stringi che s’appiatta et fugge.

E i naviganti in qualche chiusa valle

gettan le membra, poi che ’l sol s’asconde,

sul duro legno et sotto a l’aspre gonne.

Ma io, perché s’attuffi in mezzo l’onde

et lasci Ispagna dietro a le sue spalle

et Granata et Marrocco et le Colonne,

et gli uomini e le donne

e ’l mondo et gli animali

acquetino i lor mali,

fine non pongo al mio ostinato affanno;

et duolmi ch’ ogni giorno arroge al danno,

ch’ i’ son già pur crescendo in questa voglia

ben presso al decim’ anno,

né poss’ indovinar chi me ne scioglia.

Et perché un poco nel parlar mi sfogo,

veggio la sera i buoi tornare sciolti

da le campagne et da’ solcati colli.

I miei sospiri a me perché non tolti

quando che sia? perché no ’l grave giogo?

perché dì et notte gli occhi miei son molli?

Misero me, che volli

quando primier sì fiso

gli tenni nel bel viso

per iscolpirlo, imaginando, in parte

onde mai né per forza né per arte

mosso sarà fin ch’ i’ sia dato in preda

a chi tutto diparte!

né so ben anco che di lei mi creda.

Canzon, se l’esser meco

dal matino a la sera

t’à fatto di mia schiera,

tu non vorrai mostrarti in ciascun loco;

et d’altrui loda curerai sì poco

ch’ assai ti fia pensar di poggio in poggio

come m’à concio ’l foco

di questa viva petra ov’ io m’appoggio.

But, ah, cruel Love, you drive me on to chase

the voice, the steps, the prints of a
wild beast

who is destroying me;

you do not catch her: she crouches and she flees.

And sailors on their ship when sun is set

in some protected cove
let their limbs drop

upon hard boards and sleep beneath coarse canvas.

But I, though sun may dive into the waves

and leave behind his back all that is
Spain
,

Granada and Morocco and the Pillars,

and though all men and women,

animals and the world

may come to calm their ills—

yet I cannot end my insistent anguish;

it pains me that each day augments my grief,

for here I am still growing in this love

for
nearly ten years
now,

wondering who will ever
set me free
.

And (to
relieve my pain
a bit by talking)

I see at evening
oxen coming home
,

freed from the fields and furrows they have ploughed—

why, then
, must I not be free of my sighs

at least sometimes? Why not my
heavy yoke
?

Why day and night must my eyes still be wet?

Oh
what I did
that time

when I fixed them upon

the beauty of her face

to
carve it
in my heart’s imagination

whence
neither by coercion nor by art

could it be moved—not till I am the prey

of one who
all does part!

And
could she even then
I am not sure.

My song, if being with me

from morning until night

has made you
join my party
,

you will not show yourself
in any place

and will care little to be praised by others—

it will suffice to think
from hill to hill

how I have been consumed