Petrarch (57 page)
Authors: Mark Musa
all wrought with ivory and ebony;
the sea was calm
, the breeze was gently blowing,
e ’l ciel qual è se nulla nube il vela,
ella carca di ricca merce onesta.
Poi repente tempesta
oriental turbò sì l’aere et Fonde
che la nave percosse ad uno scoglio.
O che grave cordoglio,
breve ora oppresse et poco spazio asconde
l’alte ricchezze a null’altre seconde!
In un boschetto novo i rami santi
fiorian d’un lauro giovenetto et schietto
ch’ un delli arbor parea di paradiso;
et di sua ombra uscian sì dolci canti
di vari augelli et tant’ altro diletto
che dal mondo m’avean tutto diviso.
Et mirandol io fiso,
cangiossi ’l cielo intorno, et tinto in vista
folgorando ’l percosse et da radice
quella pianta felice
subito svelse, onde mia vita è trista,
che simile ombra mai non si racquista.
Chiara fontana in quel medesmo bosco
sorgea d’un sasso et acque fresche et dolci
spargea soavemente mormorando;
al bel seggio riposto ombroso et fosco
né pastori appressavan né bifolci,
ma ninfe et muse a quel tenor cantando.
Ivi m’assisi, et quando
più dolcezza prendea di tal concento
et di tal vista, aprir vidi uno speco
et portarsene seco
la fonte e ’l loco, ond’ ancor doglia sento
et sol de la memoria mi sgomento.
Una strania fenice, ambedue l’ale
di porporavestita e ’l capo d’oro,
vedendo per la selva altera et sola,
veder forma celeste ed immortale
prima pensai, fin ch’ a lo svelto alloro
giunse ed al fonte che la terra invola.
Ogni cosa al fin vola:
and there was not a cloud to veil the sky;
with rich and
precious cargo
she was laden.
And then
a sudden storm
out of the East so shook the
air and waters
,
the boat was shattered up against the rocks.
in short time crushed, and
little space now hides
,
high riches that are second to no others!
Within a youthful grove were flowering
the boughs of a
young, slender laurel tree
that seemed to have been grown in Paradise;
and from her shade there came so sweet a sound
of
different birds
and so much other joy
that it had
cut me off
from the real world.
And as I stared at her
the sky
around her changed, and turning black
it
struck with lightning
, and then by the roots
that happy plant was torn
up suddenly, and now my life is sorrow,
for
shade like this
can never be regained.
Inside that very grove
a sparkling fountain
sprang from a rock
, and its fresh, loving waters
it poured forth with a
gentle murmuring
.
To that secluded place so
fair and shady
no shepherds and no boors
would come, but only
muses and nymphs
singing to that clear flow.
I sat down there
, and while
I took more sweetness
from such harmony
and from that sight, I saw a chasm open
and sweep it all away,
fountain and place
, and I am still left grieving,
and just the thought of it
fills me with fear
.
A marvelous phoenix
with both of its wings
adorned in purple
and its head in gold,
I saw there
in the woods
, proud and alone.
At first I thought
it was a holy thing,
immortal, till it reached the
torn-out laurel
and came upon the spring stolen away.
All things rush
to their end;
chè mirando le frondi a terra sparse
e ’l troncon rotto et quel vivo umor secco,
volse in se stessa il becco,
quasi sdegnando, e ’n un punto disparse,
onde ’l cor di pietate et d’amor m’arse.
Alfin vid’ io per entro i fiori et l’erba
pensosa ir sì leggiadra et bella Donna
che mai nol penso ch’ i’ non arda et treme,
umile in sé, ma ’ncontra Amor superba;
ed avea in dosso si candida gonna,
si testa, ch’or et neve parea inseme,
ma le parti supreme
eran avolte d’una nebbia oscura.
Punta poi nel tallon d’un picciol angue
come fior coito langue
lieta si dipartio, non che secura:
ahi nulla altro che pianto al mondo dura!
Canzon, tu puoi ben dire:
“Queste sei visioni al signor mio
àn fatto un dolce di morir desio.”
Amor, quando fioria
mia spene e ’l guidardon di tanta fede,
tolta m’è quella ond’ attendea mercede.
Ahi dispietata Morte, ahi crudel vita!
luna m’à posto in doglia
et mie speranze acerbamente à spente;
l’altra mi ten qua giù contra mia voglia,
et lei che se n’è gita
seguir non posso, ch’ ella no ’l consente.
Ma pur ogni or presente
nel mezzo del meo cor Madonna siede,
et qual è la mia vita, ella se ’l vede.
for, seeing all the
leaves strewn on the ground
,
the trunk broken, those
living waters dry
,
against herself she turned
her beak, as if in scorn,
and quickly vanished
—
pity and love then
set my heart aflame
.
At last I saw through grass and flowers walking
in thought
a lady
fair, so full of joy—
to think of it
sets me aflame and shaking
—
humble
within herself, haughty to Love;
and she had on a gown
so very white
,
so woven
that it seemed of snow and gold,
but all
the upper part
of her was shrouded in a mist of dark.
Then
stung upon her heel
by a
small snake
,
she
left in joy
and more than confident:
ah, nothing but our tears last in this world!
My song, you well may say:
“These six visions just
given to my lord
have given him a
sweet wish to know death
.”
Love, when my
hope was blossoming
,
the
guerdon
of such faithfulness as mine,
taken from me was she who
promised mercy
.
Ah Death
that shows no pity, ah cruel Life!
One fixes me in sorrow
and
kills my hopes
before they have matured;
the other holds me here against my will,
and she who is now gone
I cannot follow, Death will not allow.
But still
, always in presence
in my heart’s very center
sits Madonna
,
and
she sees for herself
what my life’s like.
Tacer non posso, et temo non adopre
contrario effetto la mia lingua al core
che vorria far onore
a la sua donna, che dal Ciel n’ascolta.
Come poss’ io, se non m’insegni, Amore,
con parole mortaii aguagliar l’opre
divine et quel che copre
alta umiltate in se stessa raccolta?
Ne la bella pregione onde or è sciolta
poco era stato ancor l’alma gentile
al tempo che di lei prima m’accorsi;
onde subito corsi
(ch’ era de l’anno et di mi’ etate aprile)
a coglier fiori in quei prati dintorno,
sperando a li occhi suoi piacer sì addorno.
Muri eran d’alabastro e ’l tetto d’oro,
d’avorio uscio, et fenestre di zaffiro
onde ’l primo sospiro
mi giunse al cor et giugnerà l’estremo;
inde i messi d’Amor armati usciro
di saette et di foco, ond’ io di loro
coronad d’alloro,
pur come or fusse, ripensando tremo.
D’un bel diamante quadro et mai non scemo
vi si vedea nel mezzo un seggio altero
ove sola sedea la bella donna;
dinanzi una colonna
cristallina, et iv’ entro ogni pensero
scritto et for tralucea sì chiaramente
che mi fea lieto et sospirar sovente.
A le pungenti ardenti et lucide arme,
a la vittoriosa insegna verde
contra cui in campo perde
Giove et Apollo et Polifemo et Marte,
ov’ è ’l pianto ogni or fresco et si rinverde,
giunto mi vidi, et non possendo aitarme
preso lassai menarme
ond’ or non so d’uscir la via né l’arte.
Silent I cannot be
, but still I fear
my tongue may not achieve my heart’s intent
whose wish it is to honor
its lady who is hearing us from Heaven.
How can I,
if you do not teach me, Love
,
with
mortal words do justice
to the work
divine,
concealed
in high
humility collected in itself?
Not long
had she been in the
lovely prison
from which she now is free, that gracious soul,
when I first
realized that she existed
;
and
so quickly I ran
—
the April of my
years and of that year
—
to gather flowers in the fields around
and hoping, so adorned, to please her eyes.
The walls were alabaster
, the roof gold,
the entrance ivory,
sapphire the windows
from where the first of sighs
reached to my heart as will my very last,
from where Love’s messengers
burst forth all armed
with flame and arrows, and whenever I
think of them crowned in laurel
again
I tremble
as if then were now.
Within there could be seen
a lofty throne
of diamond squarely cut, without a fault,
on which the lovely lady sat alone;
in front of her
a column
crystalline where all of the thoughts inscribed
inside of it shone through so brilliantly
that often I was happy in my sighing.
To the piercing, all aflame, and shining arms,
and to that
green ensign of victory
against which in a battle
Jove and Apollo
, Polyphemus, Mars
would lose, where
tears
are always fresh and green
I saw that I had come, and helplessly
and have no way or means of getting out.
Ma sì com’ uom talor che piange et parte
vede cosa che li occhi e ’l cor alletta,
cosi colei per ch’ io son in pregione
standosi ad un balcone,
che fu sola a’ suoi dì cosa perfetta,
cominciai a mirar con tal desio
che me stesso e ’l mio mal posi in oblio.
I’ era in terra e ’l cor in paradiso
dolcemente obliando ogni altra cura,
et mia viva figura
far sentia un marmo e ’mpier di meraviglia;
quando una donna assai pronta et secura,
di tempo antica et giovene del viso,
vedendomi sì fiso
a l’atto de la fronte et de le ciglia:
“Meco,” mi disse, “meco ti consiglia,
ch’ i’ son d’altro poder che tu non credi
et so far lieti et tristi in un momento,
più leggiera che ’l vento;
et reggo et volvo quanto al mondo vedi.
Tien pur gli occhi come aquila in quel sole,
parte da’ orecchi a queste mie parole.
“Il dì che costei nacque, eran le stelle
che producon fra voi felici effetti
in luoghi alti et eletti
l’una ver l’altra con amor converse.
Venere e ’l padre con benigni aspetti
tenean le parti signorili et belle,
et le luci impie et felle
quasi in tutto del ciel eran disperse.
“Il sol mai sì bel giorno non aperse,
l’aere et la terra s’allegrava, et l’acque
per lo mar avean pace et per li fiumi.
Fra tanti amici lumi
una nube lontana mi dispiacque,
la qual temo che ’n pianto si resolve
se Pietate altramente il ciel non volve.
“Com’ ella venne in questo viver basso,
ch’ a dir il ver non fu degno d’averla,
But as a man who weeps sometimes
departing
will see something that gladdens eyes and heart,
just so, when she, for whom I am in prison,
standing
on a balcony
,
she who
alone was perfect
in her days,
I began to look at her with such desire
that I forgot myself and my misfortune.
I was on earth, my heart in paradise,
forgetting sweetly every other care,
and I felt my live body
turning to marble
, filling up with wonder;
when, very swift and sure, a lady,
old in her years but youthful in her look,
who saw me so intent
from the expression on my face and brow
announced to me:
“With me, consult with me
,
for I have greater power than you think
and can gladden and sadden
in an instant
,
I’m lighter than the wind
and rule and change all things you see on earth.
Keep your eyes fixed
like an eagle on that sun
and meanwhile
pay attention
to my words.
“
The day that she was born
all of those stars
producing good effects among you there,
in high, selected places,
turned lovingly around to one another.
Both Venus and her father
with good influence
were holding to
those noble, lovely parts
