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Nè per sereno ciel ir vaghe stelle - 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).

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Nè per sereno ciel ir vaghe stelle

  • Neither the stars that wander through the sky,
  • Nor stately ships upon a tranquil sea,
  • Nor troops of gallant horsemen prancing by,
  • Nor blithe and agile beasts in wood and lea,
  • Nor tidings fresh from one for whom we fear,
  • Nor speech of love in grand and lofty air,
  • Nor amid verdant lawns with fountains clear
  • The tuneful songs of gentle dames and fair,
  • Nor aught beside can move my stony heart
  • Which she hath carried with her to the tomb,
  • Who to mine eyes did light and joy impart
  • Till now without her life is naught but gloom,
  • And I do call for death with longing keen.
  • O but to see her! Would I ne’er had seen!
  • cccxii

And when he returns to Vaucluse, the familiar scenes arouse again the consciousness of his loneliness.