Petrarch (8 page)

Voi ch’ ascoltate in rime sparse il suono

di quei sospiri ond’ io nudriva ’l core

in sul mio primo giovenile errore,

quand’ era
in part
e altr’ uom da quel ch’ i’ sono,

del vario stile in ch’ io piango et ragiono

fra le vane speranze e ’l van dolore,

ove sia chi per prova intenda amore,

spero trovar pietà, non che perdono.

Ma ben veggio or sì come al popol tutto

favola fui gran tempo, onde sovente

di me medesmo meco mi vergogno;

et del mio vaneggiar vergogna è ’l frutto,

e ’l pentersi, e ’l conoscer chiaramente

che quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno.

Per fare una leggiadra sua vendetta

et punire in un di ben mille offese,

celatamente Amor l’arco riprese,

come uom ch’ a nocer luogo e tempo aspetta.

Era la mia virtute al cor ristretta

per far ivi et negli occhi sue difese

quando ’l colpo
mortal
là giù discese

ove solea spuntarsi ogni saetta;

però, turbata nel primiero assalto

non ebbe tanto né vigor né spazio

che potesse al bisogno prender l’arme,

o vero al poggio faticoso et alto

ritrarmi accortamente da lo strazio

del quale oggi vorrebbe, et non po, aitarme.

O you who hear within
these scattered verses

the sound of
sighs with which I fed my heart

in my first
errant youthful days
when I

in part was not the man I am today;

for all the ways
in which I weep and speak

between vain hopes, between vain suffering,

in
anyone who knows love through its trials
,

in them, may I find pity and forgiveness.

But now I see how I’ve
become the talk

so long a time of people all around

(it often makes me feel so full of
shame
),

and from my vanities there comes shame’s fruit,

and my repentance, and the clear awareness

that worldly joy is just a
fleeting dream
.

Determined to take up
graceful revenge

and punish in one day
a thousand wrongs
,

secretly
Love took up his bow again

and chose the proper time and place to strike.

My strength was
concentrated in my heart
,

and there and in my eyes
raised its defense

when down upon it
struck the mortal blow

where every other arrow
had been blunted
;

and so, bewildered by this first assault,

it did not have the vigor or the chance

to take up arms when it was time to fight,

or even to
lead me cleverly
back up

the
high, hard mountain
saving me from slaughter,

from which he’d like to now, but cannot help.

Era il giorno ch’ al sol si scoloraro

per la pietà del suo fattore i rai

quando i’ fui preso, et non me ne guardai,

ché i be’ vostr’ occhi, Donna, mi legaro.

Tempo non mi parea da far riparo

contr’ a’ colpi d’Amor; però m’andai

secur, senza sospetto, onde i miei guai

nel commune dolor s’incominciaro.

Trovommi Amor del tutto disarmato,

et aperta la via per gli occhi al core

che di lagrime son fatti uscio et varco.

Però al mio parer non li fu onore

ferir me de saetta in quello stato,

a voi armata non mostrar pur l’arco.

Que’ ch’ infinita providenzia et arte

mostrò nel suo mirabil magistero,

che criò questo et quell’altro emispero,

et mansueto più Giove che Marte,

vegnendo in terra a ’Iluminar le carte

ch’ avean molt’anni già celato il vero,

tolse Giovanni da la rete et Piero

et nel regno del ciel fece lor parte;

di sé nascendo a Roma non fe’ grazia,

a Giudea sì, tanto sovr’ ogni stato

umiltate esaltar sempre gli piacque.

Ed or di picciol borgo un sol n’à dato,

tal che natura o ’l luogo si ringrazia

onde sì bella donna al mondo nacque.

It was the day the sun’s ray had turned pale

with pity for the suffering of his Maker

when I was caught (and I put up no fight),

my lady, for your
lovely eyes had bound me
.

It seemed no time
to be on guard against

Love’s blows; therefore, I went my way

secure and fearless—so, all my misfortunes

began in midst of
universal woe
.

Love found me all disarmed and saw the way

was clear
to reach my heart
down through the eyes,

which have become the
halls and doors
of tears.

It seems to me it did him little honor

to wound me with his arrow
in my state

and to you, armed
, not show his bow at all.

That one
who showed His endless providence

and art by means of marvelous workmanship,

who made this and that other hemisphere

and who
created Jove more mild than Mars
,

who coming
down to earth illuminating

those pages that had hid the truth so long,

took Peter
from the nets
and John as well,

making of them a part of Heaven’s realm,

who with His birth did
not choose Rome to grace,

but chose Judea, for above all else

it pleased Him to exalt humility.

And now from a small town
He’s given us

a sun such that
we thank Nature and place

that brought into the world this lovely lady.

Quando io movo i sospiri a chiamar voi

e ’l nome che nel cor mi scrisse Amore,

LAU-dando s’incomincia udir di fore

il suon de’ primi dolci accenti suoi;

vostro stato RE-al che ’ncontro poi

raddoppia a l’alta impresa il mio valore;

ma “TA-ci,” grida il fin, “ché farle onore

è d’altri omeri soma che da’ tuoi.”

Cosi LAU-dare et RE-verire insegna

la voce stessa, pur ch’ altri vi chiami,

o d’ogni reverenza et d’onor degna;

se non che forse Apollo si disdegna

ch’a parlar de’ suoi sempre verdi rami

lingua mor-TA-l presuntuosa vegna.

Si traviato è ’l folle mi’ desio

a seguitar costei che ’n fuga
è
volta

et de’ lacci d’Amor leggiera et sciolta

vola dinanzi al lento correr mio,

che quanto richiamando più l’envio

per la secura strada men m’ascolta,

né mi vale spronarlo o dargli volta

ch’ Amor per sua natura il fa restio;

et poi che ’l fren per forza a sé raccoglie,

i’ mi rimango in signoria di lui,

che mal mio grado a morte mi trasporta;

sol per venir al lauro onde si coglie

acerbo frutto, che le piaghe altrui

gustando affligge più che non conforta.

When I summon my sighs to
call for you
,

with that name Love inscribed upon my heart,

in LAUdable
the sound at the beginning

of the
sweet accents
of that word comes forth.

Your
REgal state
which I encounter next

doubles my strength
for the
high enterprise
,

but “TAcitly” the end cries
, “for her honor

needs
better shoulders
for support than yours.”

And so,
to LAUd and to REvere
the word

itself instructs whenever someone calls you,

O lady worthy of all praise and honor,

unless, perhaps,
Apollo be offended

that morTAl tongue be so presumptuous

to speak of his
eternally green boughs
.

So far astray is my insane desire

to chase this lady who has
turned in flight
,

and
light and liberated
of Love’s snares,

flies off ahead of
my slow run for her
,

that when, calling him back, the more I send him

by the
safe path
the less he pays me heed;

nor does it help to spur him or to turn him,

for Love by its own nature
makes him restive
;

and when by force he
takes the reins himself
,

I am left there in
harness of his lordship

as he against my will
rides me to death
,

only to reach the laurel where is gathered

the
bitter fruit
, once tasted, that afflicts

rather than comforts someone else’s wounds.

La gola e ’l sonno et l’oziose piume

ànno del mondo ogni vertù sbandita,

ond’ è dal corso suo quasi smarrita

nostra natura vinta dal costume;

et è sì spento ogni benigno lume

del ciel per cui s’informa umana vita,

che per cosa mirabile s’addita

chi vol far d’Elicona nascer flume.

Qual vaghezza di lauro, qual di mirto?

“Povera et nuda vai, Filosofia,”

dice la turba al vil guadagno intesa.

Pochi compagni avrai per l’altra via:

tanto ti prego più, gentile spirto,

non lassar la magnanima tua impresa.

A pie’ de’ colli ove la bella vesta

prese de le terrene membra pria

la donna che colui ch’ a te ne ’nvia

spesso dal sonno lagrimando desta,

libere in pace passavam per questa

vita mortal, ch’ ogni animal desia,

senza sospetto di trovar fra via

cosa ch’ al nostro andar fosse molesta.

Ma del misero stato ove noi semo

condotte da la vita altra serena

un sol conforto, et de la morte, avemo:

che vendetta è di lui ch’ a ciò ne mena,

lo qual in forza altrui presso a l’estremo

riman legato con maggior catena.

Gluttony, sleep, pillows of idleness
,

have banished every virtue from the world

whereby
our nature
conquered by its habits

has almost lost its way along the road;

so spent is every good light
from the heavens

which should inform our human life that he

is pointed out as some remarkable thing

who would
make water flow from Helicon
.

Who wishes for the
laurel
, or for myrtle!

“In poverty and naked goes
Philosphy
,”

the masses bent on
making money
say.

You will have few companions on that road,

so all the more I beg you, noble spirit,

do not abandon your magnanimous task.

Beneath those hills
(where she had first adorned

those worldly parts of hers in
lovely clothes
,

that lady, she who often wakens weeping

the one
who now is sending us to you)

we used to make our way through mortal life

in peace and freedom all creatures desire,

without the fear of finding
on our course

something that might be harmful to our going.

But for the wretched state to which we’ve been

brought from the
other life that was serene
,

and for our death, we have one consolation:

revenge is taken
on the one who caught us,

for he is caught by power of another

and,
near his end
, is bound by greater chains.