Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow Quando giunse a Simon l'alto concetto - Some Love Songs

Return to Title Page for Some Love Songs

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Literature

Quando giunse a Simon l’alto concetto - Francesco Petrarch, Some Love Songs [1915]

Edition used:

Some Love Songs of Petrarch, translated and annotated with a Biographical Introduction by William Dudley Foulke (Oxford University Press, 1915).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


Quando giunse a Simon l’alto concetto

  • While Simon mastered his conception high,
  • When at my wish his hand had grasped the brush,
  • If to her features and the delicate flush
  • Of those fair cheeks he also could supply
  • Both voice and soul, he had freed from every sigh
  • One who cares not for what most men hold dear.
  • All humble to my sight she doth appear
  • And her sweet face assureth me of joy;
  • And after, when I talk with her fair eyes,
  • She seems to listen in a kindly way
  • But cannot answer me the things I say!
  • Pygmalion, how greatly shouldst thou prize
  • The face that a thousand times did talk with thee,
  • While not once will these fair lips answer me!
  • lxxviii

Sometimes the poet’s despair awakens compassion on the part of his mistress and he is comforted by some kindly salutation or gracious speech as in the following ballad.