| from "LA VITA NUOVA" VII | O YOU WHO ON THE WAY OF LOVE GO BY ... |
| Dante Alighieri | tr. A. S. Kline |
|
O voi che per la via d'Amor passate, attendete e guardate s'elli è dolore alcun, quanto 'l mio, grave; e prego sol ch'audir mi sofferiate, e poi imaginate s'io son d'ogni tormento ostale e chiave. Amor, non già per mia poca bontate, ma per sua nobiltate, mi pose in vita sì dolce e soave, ch'io mi sentia dir dietro spesse fiate: "Deo, per qual dignitate così leggiadro questi lo core have?" Or ho perduta tutta mia baldanza, che si movea d'amoroso tesoro; ond'io pover dimoro, in guisa che di dir mi ven dottanza. Sì che volendo far come coloro che per vergogna celan lor mancanza, di fuor mostro allegranza, e dentro da lo core struggo e ploro. |
O you who on the way of Love go by, listen and see if there is any grief, as grave as mine: and I beg you only to suffer me to be heard, and then reflect whether I am not the tower and the key of every torment. Amor, indeed not for my slight worth but through his nobility placed me in a life so sweet and gentle, that often I would hear it said behind me: "God, for what virtue does this heart own so much delight?" Now I have lost all my eloquence which flowed so from love’s treasure: and I am grown so poor in a way that speech barely comes to me. So that I desire to be like one who to conceal his poverty through shame, shows joy outwardly, and within my heart am troubled and weep. |
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Trans. Copyright © A. S. Kline 2003