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).
L’aspetto sacro de la terra vostra
mi fa del mal passato tragger guai,
gridando: Sta’ su, misero, che fai?;
et la via de salir al ciel mi mostra.
Ma con questo pensier un altro giostra,
et dice a me: Perché fuggendo vai?
se ti rimembra, il tempo passa omai
di tornar a veder la donna nostra.
I’ che ‘l suo ragionar intendo, allora
m’agghiaccio dentro, in guisa d’uom ch’ascolta
novella che di súbito l’accora.
Poi torna il primo, et questo dà la volta:
qual vincerà, non so; ma ‘nfino ad ora
combattuto ànno, et non pur una volta.
The sacred aspect of your native place,
makes me sorrow for the evil that is past,
crying: ‘Arise, you wretch, what is it you do?’:
and shows me the way to climb to Heaven.
But with this thought another one contends
and says to me: ‘Why do you run away?
If you recall, the time now is passing
in which you might turn and see our lady.’
I understand what it says, and I turn
to ice inside, like a man who hears
news which suddenly overwhelms him.
The first thought returns, the other flies:
which will win, who knows: but they’ve fought
till now, and more than one single time.