| IL MIO ADVERSARIO IN CUI ...................VEDER SOLETE ... |
MIRROR, MY ENEMY, IN WHICH YOU ...................................ARE ALLOWED ... | |
| Francesco Petrarca | tr. A. S. Kline | |
|
Il mio adversario in cui veder solete gli occhi vostri ch'Amore e 'l ciel honora, colle non sue bellezze v'innamora piu che 'n guisa mortal soavi et liete. Per consiglio di lui, donna, m'avete scacciato del mio dolce albergo fora: misero exilio, avegna ch'i' non fora d'abitar degno ove voi sola siete. Ma s'io v'era con saldi chiovi fisso, non devea specchio farvi per mio danno, a voi stessa piacendo, aspra et superba. Certo, se vi rimembra di Narcisso, questo et quel corso ad un termino vanno, benche di si bel fior sia indegna l'erba. |
Mirror, my enemy, in which you are allowed to see your eyes that Love and Heaven honour, enamours you of beauties not its own, sweet and delightful in more than mortal ways. Through its promptings, Lady, I have been driven from my sweet resting-place: wretched exile, though I could not rightly stay where you alone can have existence. But if I had been fixed there with firm rivets, that mirror would not have made you proud and harsh, pleasing to yourself, to my harm. Surely you can remember Narcissus: that course and this runs to the same end, though the grass is not worthy of such a flower. |
Note: For Narcissus see Ovid’s Metamorphoses, falling in love with his own reflection he was changed into the narcissus flower.
Trans. Copyright © A. S. Kline 2003