from "LA VITA NUOVA" III | TO EVERY CAPTIVE SOUL ... |
Dante Alighieri | tr. A. S. Kline |
A ciascun'alma presa e gentil core nel cui cospetto ven lo dir presente, in ciò che mi rescrivan suo parvente, salute in lor segnor, cioè Amore. Già eran quasi che atterzate l'ore del tempo che onne s tella n'è lucente, quando m'apparve Amor subitamente, cui essenza membrar mi dà orrore. Allegro mi sembrava Amor tenendo meo core in mano, e ne le braccia avea madonna involta in un drappo dormendo. Poi la svegliava, e d'esto core ardendo lei paventosa umilmente pascea: appresso gir lo ne vedea piangendo. |
To every captive soul and gentle heart into whose sight this present speech may come, so that they might write its meaning for me, greetings, in their lord’s name, who is Love. Already a third of the hours were almost past of the time when all the stars were shining, when Amor suddenly appeared to me whose memory fills me with terror. Joyfully Amor seemed to me to hold my heart in his hand, and held in his arms my lady wrapped in a cloth sleeping. Then he woke her, and that burning heart he fed to her reverently, she fearing, afterwards he went not to be seen weeping. |
Trans. Copyright © A. S. Kline 2003