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).
Io son de l’aspectar omai sí vinto,
et de la lunga guerra de’ sospiri,
ch’i’ aggio in odio la speme e i desiri,
ed ogni laccio ond’è ‘l mio core avinto.
Ma ‘l bel viso leggiadro che depinto
porto nel petto, et veggio ove ch’io miri,
mi sforza; onde ne’ primi empii martiri
pur son contra mia voglia risospinto.
Allor errai quando l’antica strada
di libertà mi fu precisa et tolta,
ché mal si segue ciò ch’agli occhi agrada;
allor corse al suo mal libera et sciolta:
ora a posta d’altrui conven che vada
l’anima che peccò sol una volta.
I’m so defeated now, in appearance,
and with the sighs of this long war,
that I’ve come to hate hope and desire,
and all the other nets that snare my heart.
But that sweet joyful face whose image I carry
engraved in my breast, and see wherever I gaze,
constrains me: I’m forced back against my will
into those torments that I first knew.
I erred then when the ancient path
of liberty was closed to me, removed:
what ill he follows who’s led by the eye,
then free and freely runs towards his ill:
the spirit that sinned a single time
must march now to another’s orders.