| It's not to tell how much I admire you | Non t'ammirar, s'a te non visto mai |
|---|---|
|
It's not to tell you how much I admire you, you whom I have never seen, nor seen me, that I long to send you these, my papers: since evidence of your genius is everywhere, I'm doing what was never done before. I know you will not blame my ardor if you study my poems attentively -- part by part. They've compelled admiration from every man who's seen them -- but you've excused me enough already. These things drive me to make evident how I feel: that my sprits are illumined and and strengthened while I am writing to you. The evident humanity that dwells in you has increased my ardor -- boldness -- to do what I'd been putting off -- now at long last. |
Non t'ammirar, s'a te, non visto mai Ardisco di mandar queste mie carte, Ché tue virtù per tutto 'l mondo sparte Mi fan far quel ch'ancor non feci mai. E so che tal ardir non biasmerai Se quelle ben misuri a parte a parte: Lor fan ch'a forza è ognun constretto amarte, Però, signor tu m'excusata arrai. Quelle m'han spinta a far ch'io a ti palesi Quant'io t'amo ed onoro, e quanto ancora Miei spirti sian già di scriverti accesi: E l' alta humanità, che 'n te dimora, Mi porse ardire assai più che non cresi A far quel, che tardat'ho infin ad ora. |
Certo ben mi poss'io dir pago omai
d'ogni tuo oltraggio, Amor, e s'a colparte
distretto 'l verso o le prose consparte
ho pur talora, or me ne pento assai.
Ché le note, onde tu ricco mi fai,
di quella, che dal vulgo mi diparte,
ancor mai non veduta, e scorge in parte
over tu scorto pochi o nessun hai,
son tali, che quetar ben mille offesi
possono e di mille alme scacciar fora
desir vili e 'ngombrar d'alti e cortesi.
Pensar quinci si può, qual fia quell'ora,
ch'i vedrò gli occhi, ch'or me son contesi,
e la voce udirò, che Brescia onora.
The above text is taken from Prose e Rime di Pietro Bembo, ed. Carlo Dionisotti (Unione Tipografico-Editrice-Tornese, 1966), No. LXIII, pp. 560-61. I supply a paraphrase in English: "Now it is sure, now I can say I am content, rewarded, Love, for your outrages, I who have sometimes severely blamed myself for scattering my prose and verse; now I have repented enough --/and why, because of the rich music you have made, you say, from my Italian poetry -- even when we've not yet met -- is perceived in those parts of your poem where you have little or no teacher,/there are those who to obtain tranquillity, to answer the thousand hurts of life, repel countless souls and humble longings; and in so doing, they hurt the noble and courteous;/but I now can dream of that time, whenever it may come, when I will see the eyes I now cannot see and hear the voice that honors Brescia." Dionisotti suggests that Bembo may have written 4 poems to Gambara: the above; No. CXXIII, pp. 607-8 ( Quel dolce suon, per cui chiaro s'intende"); LX, p. 558 ("Rime leggiadre, che novellamente"), LXI, p. 559 ("Colei, che guerra a' miei pensieri indice"; this is disputed by Giorgio Dilemmi in "Ne Videatur Strepere Anser Iner Olores", Veronica Gambara e la Poesia del Suo Tempo, p. 26).
1995 Bullock 15:71-72, includes a long note with much information. This exchange of poems probably occurred in 1504; Bembo's letter is dated 11 September 1504. See further Jerrold 141-43; Courten 12; Bembo's letters reprinted 1552/54, Vol III, pp. 24-25.