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).
Sí tosto come aven che l’arco scocchi,
buon sagittario di lontan discerne
qual colpo è da sprezzare, et qual d’averne
fede ch’al destinato segno tocchi:
similmente il colpo de’ vostr’occhi,
donna, sentiste a le mie parti interne
dritto passare, onde conven ch’eterne
lagrime per la piaga il cor trabocchi.
Et certo son che voi diceste allora:
Misero amante, a che vaghezza il mena?
Ecco lo strale onde Amor vòl che mora.
Ora veggendo come ‘l duol m’affrena,
quel che mi fanno i miei nemici anchora
non è per morte, ma per piú mia pena.
As soon as ever he has launched his arrows,
the expert archer can see from afar
which shots have gone astray, and those
he’s sure will hit the target he assigned:
so you knew the arrows from your eyes,
lady, had pierced straight to my deepest part,
and I’d be forced to weep eternally
because of the wound my heart received.
And I am certain of what you said then:
‘Wretched lover, where will crying lead him?
Behold the arrow by which Love hoped he’d die.’
Now, seeing how grief has bound me,
all that my enemies do with me now,
is not to kill me but increase my pain.