A Daily Countdown to 700 Years with the “colpi d’Amor”
“Benedetto sia ‘l giorno, et ‘l mese, et l’anno, / et la stagione, e’l tempo, et l’ora, e ‘l punto…” — Rvf 61
“Blessed be the day, and the month, and the year, and the season, and the time, and the hour, and the moment…”(Kline).
Fuggendo la pregione ove Amor m’ebbe
molt’anni a far di me quel ch’a lui parve,
donne mie, lungo fôra a ricontarve
quanto la nova libertà m’increbbe.
Diceami il cor che per sé non saprebbe
viver un giorno; et poi tra via m’apparve
quel traditore in sí mentite larve
che piú saggio di me inganato avrebbe.
Onde piú volte sospirando indietro
dissi: Ohimè, il giogo et le catene e i ceppi
eran piú dolci che l’andare sciolto.
Misero me, che tardo il mio mal seppi;
et con quanta faticha oggi mi spetro
de l’errore, ov’io stesso m’era involto!
Fleeing the prison where Love for many years
had done with me whatever it was he wished,
it would be a long story to recount
how my newfound freedom troubled me.
My heart told me it did not know how
to live alone a day: and then that traitor Love
appeared in my path, so well disguised
he’d have deceived a wiser man than me.
So that many times, sighing within,
I said: ‘Ah me, the yoke, the log, the chains,
were much sweeter than this walking free.
Alas for me, I saw my ills too late:
and how hard it is for me today to turn
away from error, where I entwined myself!