Authors: Mark Musa
Petrarch (64 page)
“Ancor, et questo è quel che tutto avanza,
da volar sopra ’l ciel li avea dat’ ali
like her the world will never know another,
not even if Rome
had Lucretia back
;
so sweet a way of speaking
I gave her and such softness in her song,
that vile, unpleasant thought
could not survive within that lady’s presence.
And these are what he thinks are my deceptions,
“this was the
wormwood
, these the scorn and anger,
far greater than
full joy of other women
!
I reap—my pay for serving such an ingrate!
I took such care of him under my wing
that
knights and ladies
found his words appealing;
and I raised him so high
that there
among the brilliant wits
shines out
his name, and there are those who with great pleasure
collect his poetry
in different places—
he might have been a hoarse
murmurer of the courts
, a common man!
I raise him,
make him famous
by means of what he learned
in my own school
and from that one and only in the world.
“
To mention finally
my greatest service,
I kept him from
a thousand vicious acts
,
for in no way at all
could he find pleasure in a thing that’s vile:
a youngster
shy and modest
in his acts
and thoughts, and then become the leige of her
who left
a deep impression
within his heart and made him like herself.
All that is rare and noble in this man
derives
from her, and me he criticizes
.
Nocturnal ghosts
were never
more full of error than he is toward us,
for since he has known us,
he’s had the grace of God and of the people—
and that this haughty man
regrets and grieves
.
“And there is more (and this outdoes them all),
I gave him wings to fly beyond the sky,
per le cose mortali,
che son scala al Fattor, chi ben l’estima:
ché mirando ei ben fiso quante et quali
eran vertuti in quella sua speranza,
d’una in altra sembianza
potea levarsi a l’alta cagion prima,
et ei l’a detto alcuna volta in rima.
Or m’à posto in oblio con quella donna
ch’ i’ li die’ per colonna
de la sua frale vita.” A questo un strido
lagrimoso alzo, et grido:
“Ben me la die’, ma tosto la ritolse!”
Responde: “Io no, ma chi per sé la volse.”
Alfin ambo conversi al giusto seggio,
i’ con tremanti, ei con voci alte et crude,
ciascun per sé conchiude:
“Nobile Donna, tua sentenzia attendo.”
Ella allor, sorridendo:
“Piacemi aver vostre questioni udite,
ma più tempo bisogna a tanta lite.”
Dicemi spesso il mio fidato speglio,
l’animo stanco, et la cangiata scorza
et la scemata mia destrezza et forza:
“Non ti nasconder più, tu se’ pur veglio;
“obedir a Natura in tutto è il meglio,
ch’ a contender con lei ’l tempo ne sforza.”
Subito allor, com’ acqua ’l foco amorza,
d’un lungo et grave sonno mi risveglio;
et veggio ben che ’l nostro viver vola
et ch’ esser non si po più d’una volta;
e ’n mezzo ’l cor mi sona una parola
di lei ch’ è or dal suo bel nodo sciolta
ma ne’ suoi giorni al mondo fu si sola
ch’ a tutte, s’ i’ non erro, fama à tolta.
through mortal things which are,
if you think well, the ladder to our Maker:
for fixing firm his gaze upon the great
and many virtues in that hope of his,
from one thing
to the next
he could have risen to the high First Cause—
he’s said as much at times
in his own verse
.
Now he’s forgotten both me and that lady
for his frail life.” At this
I scream out loud
and weeping I cry out:
“He gave me her but quickly took her back!”
“Not I,” he says, “but One who wanted her.”
And then, both turned to face the seat of justice,
I trembling, he with cruel and high-pitched voice,
“Noble Lady, your sentence I await.”
And then
she with a smile
:
“It was a pleasure to have heard your pleas,
but
I will need more time
for such a lawsuit.”
I am told often by my
faithful mirror
and by my weary soul and
changing skin
,
by my
diminished strength and liveliness
:
“Admit it to yourself now, you are old;
“
obey whatever nature says
, it’s better,
for time
takes power from us to oppose her
.”
Then quick as water
putting out a fire
I wake up from a long and heavy sleep,
and I see clearly that our
life flies by
and that you have only one life to live;
and in my heart there sounds a
single word
of her now loosened from her lovely knot
but in her day so rare upon the earth
that I think
she took fame from all the others
.
Volo con l’ali de’ pensieri al Cielo
sì spesse volte che quasi un di loro
esser mi par ch’ àn ivi il suo tesoro,
lasciando in terra lo squarciato velo.
Talor mi trema ’l cor d’un dolce gelo,
udendo lei per ch’ io mi discoloro
dirmi: “Amico, or t’am’ io et or t’onoro
perch’ à’ i costumi variati e ’l pelo.”
Menami al suo Signor; allor m’inchino,
pregando umilemente che consenta
ch’ i’ stia a veder et l’uno et l’altro volto.
Responde: “Egli è ben fermo il tuo destino,
et per tardar ancor vent’anni o trenta
parrà a te troppo, et non fia pero molto.”
Morte à spento quel sol ch’ abagliar suolmi,
e ’n tenebre son li occhi interi et saldi;
terra è quella ond’ io ebbi et freddi et caldi,
spenti son i miei lauri, or querce et olmi,
di ch’ io veggio ’l mio ben et parte duolmi.
Non è chi faccia et paventosi et baldi
i miei penser, né chi li agghiacci et scaldi,
né chi gl’empia di speme et di duol colmi.
Fuor di man di colui che punge et molce,
che già fece di me si lungo strazio,
mi trovo in libertate amara et dolce;
et al Signor ch’ io adoro et ch’ i’ ringrazio,
che pur col ciglio il ciel governa et folce,
torno stanco di viver, non che sazio.
With wings made of my thoughts I fly to Heaven
so often that
I almost think I’m one
of those who have their
treasure with them there
,
now having left on earth the rendered veil.
Sometimes from
a sweet chill my heart will tremble
when I hear her, for whom my face grows pale,
say: “Friend I love you now,
and honor you
because
you’ve changed your ways
as well as
hair
.”
She takes me to her Lord
, and I kneel down,
humbly begging that He grant me permission
to stay and look upon both of their faces.
He answers: “Your
destiny is firmly fixed
;
to wait another
twenty years or thirty
may seem too much, but it will not be long.”
Death has put out the sun that
dazzled me
;
my vigorous, strong eyes are
in the dark
;
dust is the one who made me cold and hot,
dead are my laurels, now
turned oaks and elms
in which I see my good but still am pained;
there is no one to put
boldness and fear
into my thoughts, no one to freeze and heat them,
to fill with hope,
to overflow with sorrow
.
Out of the hands
of him who stabs and soothes
,
who once put me through one of his
long tortures
,
I find myself
in freedom bittersweet
;
and to the
Lord whom I adore
and thank,
Who keeps and
holds all Heaven
with His brow,
I turn, weary of life,
sick of it all
.
Tennemi Amor anni ventuno ardendo
lieto nel foco et nel duol pien di speme;
poi che Madonna e ’l mio cor seco inseme
saliro al Ciel, dieci altri anni piangendo.
Omai son stanco, et mia vita reprendo
di tanto error che di vertute il seme
à quasi spento; et le mie parti estreme,
alto Dio, a te devotamente rendo
pentito et tristo de’ miei sì spesi anni,
che spender si deveano in miglior uso,
in cercar pace et in fuggir affanni.
Signor che ’n questo carcer m’ài rinchiuso:
tramene salvo da li eterni danni,
ch’ i’ conosco ’l mio fallo et non lo scuso.
I’ vo piangendo i miei passati tempi
i quai posi in amar cosa mortale
senza levarmi a volo, abbiend’ io l’aie
per dar forse di me non bassi esempi.
Tu che vedi i miei mali indegni et empi,
Re del Cielo, invisibile, immortale:
soccorri a l’alma disviata et fraie
e ’l suo defetto di tua grazia adempi,
si che, s’ io vissi in guerra et in tempesta,
mora in pace et in porto; et se la stanza
fu vana, almen sia la partita onesta.
A quel poco di viver che m’avanza
et al morir degni esser tua man presta:
Tu sai ben che ’n altrui non ò speranza.
Twenty-one years Love kept me burning gladly
within his flame and
full of hope in sorrow
;
then, since my lady and my heart as one
went up to Heaven, another ten years weeping.
Now I am weary and I
blame my life
for its
long error
which almost destroyed
in me
the seed of virtue
;
my life’s last part
,
High God
, to you I render most devoutly,
repentant, sorry, for my years spent thus,
years that I should have put to better use,
in search of peace, in flight from worldly troubles.
Lord, you who have enclosed me
in this prison,
now take me, save me from eternal harm,
I know my fault and do not justify it
.
I go my way lamenting
those past times
I spent in loving something
which was mortal
instead of soaring high, since
I had wings
that might have taken me to higher levels.
You who see all my
shameful, wicked
errors,
King of all Heaven,
invisible, immortal
,
help this frail
soul
of mine for she has strayed,
and
all her emptiness
fill up with grace,
so that, having once lived in storms, at war,
I may now die in peace, in port; and if my stay
was vain, at least
let my departure count
.
Over the little life that still remains to me,
and at my death,
deign that your hand be present
:
You know You are the
only hope I have
.
Vergine bella, che di sol vestita,
coronata di stelle, al sommo Sole
piacesti sì che ’n te sua luce ascose:
amor mi spinge a dir di te parole,
ma non so ’ncominciar senza tu’ aita
et di colui ch’ amando in te si pose.
Invoco lei che ben sempre rispose
chi la chiamò con fede.
Vergine, s’ a mercede
miseria estrema de l’umane cose
giamai ti volse, al mio prego t’inchina,
soccorri a la mia guerra
ben ch’ i’ sia terra et tu del Ciel regina.
Vergine saggia et del bel numero una
de le beate vergini prudenti,
anzi la prima et con più chiara lampa,
o saldo scudo de le afflitte genti
contr’ a’ colpi di Morte et di Fortuna,
sotto ’l qual si triunfa, non pur scampa,
o refrigerio al cieco ardor ch’ avampa
qui fra i mortali sciocchi:
Vergine, que’ belli occhi
che vider tristi la spietata stampa
ne’ dolci membri del tuo caro figlio
volgi al mio dubio stato
che sconsigliato a te ven per consiglio.
Vergine pura, d’ogni parte intera,
del tuo parto gentil figliuola et madre,
ch’ allumi questa vita et l’altra adorni:
per te il tuo Figlio et quel del sommo Padre
(o fenestra del Ciel lucente altera)
venne a salvarne in su li estremi giorni,
et fra tutt’ i terreni altri soggiorni
sola tu fosti eletta.
Vergine benedetta
che ’l pianto d’Eva in allegrezza torni:
fammi, che puoi, de la sua grazia degno,
senza fine o beata,
già coronata nel superno regno.
Virgin, so lovely
, clothed in the suns light
and crowned with stars,
so pleased the highest Sun
that inside you He chose to
hide his light
:
love urges me to
speak of you in verse
,
but I
cannot begin without your help
and
His who loving placed himself in you
.
I call upon the one
who always answered
