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).
La bella donna che cotanto amavi
subitamente s’è da noi partita,
et per quel ch’io ne speri al ciel salita,
sí furon gli atti suoi dolci soavi.
Tempo è da ricovrare ambo le chiavi
del tuo cor, ch’ella possedeva in vita,
et seguir lei per via dritta expedita:
peso terren non sia piú che t’aggravi.
Poi che se’ sgombro de la maggior salma,
l’altre puoi giuso agevolmente porre,
sallendo quasi un pellegrino scarco.
Ben vedi omai sí come a morte corre
ogni cosa creata, et quanto all’alma
bisogna ir lieve al periglioso varco.
The lovely lady who you loved so dearly
has suddenly departed from us,
and has climbed to Heaven, I trust,
since every act of hers was sweet and gentle.
It is time to recover both the keys
of your heart, that in life she possessed,
and follow her on the swift true road:
no earthly charge should prevent you.
Now you are free from the greater burden,
the others may be easily laid down,
while you climb like a free pilgrim.
You know truly now how all creatures
run towards death, and how the soul
must be lightened for the perilous gate.