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You who gazed upon my beautiful Sun on earth, explain to those who've yet to see an unconditional loyalty, as his chivalry exceeded all others, so is my grief unparalleled. How can I mourn less? Anyone who saw his life that beauty, and now sees mine, ravaged, knows God meant this pain to equal that grandeur. Thus he appears to me in sleep and says: "You know, the profound damage you sustained has brought forth yet another wonder: I'm not content in Paradise," and I, "Here's a greater: fleeting dreams in restless sleep hold me in this deadly nightmare, my life." |
An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition |
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Notes: From V LXXXIV:84. See also B A1:69:37; R XCIX:286. VC imitates Petrarch's famous opening sonnet, " "Voi, ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono" ("You who hear in scattered rhymes the sound ..." Durling, p 36-7) as did Gambara ( Mentre da vaghi e giovenil penseri" ("Upon young, erring thoughts I too once fed ... ", Ruscelli-VG, Poem 1, p1). Although it may have been a couple of years after Pescara died that VC conceived making a sequence of poems, it seems appropriate to put these early literary imitations here as his death was the inspiration and focus of the sequence. Key |
