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From An Anthology of Italian Poems 13th-19th Century selected and translated by Lorna de’ Lucchi, Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1922; pp. 32-38, 348.
[For purists, the Italian text of the poems follows the English translation.]
GUIDO CAVALCANTI, 1255-1300
Notes and translation by Lorna de’ Lucchi
348
Biographical Note
GUIDO CAVALCANTI, born at Florence of a noble Guelf family; Dante calls him “the first among my friends”; a student of philosophy, and a disciple of Guido Guinizelli, whom he surpassed. After Dante, he is the most distinguished exponent of the “dolce stil nuovo”; he excelled in writing ballads filled with a wistful sadness; he was exiled to Sarzana as a White Guelf in 1300, was recalled, but died soon after of fever.
Poems
[33]
GUIDO CAVALCANTI, 1255-1300
Canzone
O TENDER new-born rose,
O blithesome spring,
In meadows and by stream
Gaily I sing
Thy virtue rare amid green woods — at leisure.
35
Thy virtue doth unfold
Its happy grace
In hearts both young and old,
In every place;
The birds make it their song
As each doth please,
At eve and dawn among
The verdant trees:
And all the world doth sing,
For now’s the time
When ’tis a fitting thing
Thy cherished prime
To vaunt, O thou who art a heavenly — treasure.
An angel’s face indeed,
Madonna, thine;
O God, good-chance did speed
Desire of mine!
Thy gaily smiling face
All doth excel
That Art and Nature trace,
O wond’rous well!
Queen among women, thou
Art honoured so,
Such is thy beauty, how
Should my heart know
To frame thy praise and taste thy godly — pleasure?
Not earthly grace can be
Thine own, I ween,
God truly fashioned thee
For sovereign queen:
O let sweet providence
To me be kind,
Nor take thy image hence,
Out of my mind.
37
And if thou be ashamed
That I adore,
O let me not be blamed
But love therefore,
Because ’gainst him avails nor might — nor measure.
Ballad
I FOUND a shepherdess in forest glade
Lovelier, methought, than any star to see;
Her rippled tresses wore a golden hue,
Her eyes were bright with love, her cheeks flushed deep
As roses are; the while she tended sheep,
Her feet were bare and sprinkled o’er with dew;
She sang as maids in love are wont to do,
Adorned with every grace she seemed to be.
I greeted her forthwith in Love’s own name
And asked her if she chanced in company;
She answered gently that alone she came
Awandering through the wood, and thus spake she:
“Know thou that when the birds sing merrily
’Tis then this heart of mine doth crave a lover!”
Threon, since she had told me of her plight
And I could hear the birds sing merrily,
Unto myself I said: “Now is the season
With this sweet shepherdess of joy to reason!”
Then did I crave her favour, if to kiss
And to embrace she reckoned not amiss.
She took me by the hand in tender way
And said that she had given her heart to me;
She led me underneath a verdant spray,
Where flowers of every colour I could see;
So fond, so blithe was everything anigh
I thought the god of love himself stood by.
39
Sonnet
LO, I divine in thee flowers, verdant sprays,
All thing that are most beautiful and bright;
Thy face is clearer than the sun’s own rays,
Who sees thee not may well bemoan his plight!
There is no being upon earth below
So rich as thou in loveliness and grace:
Who feareth love, from fear doth straightly go
When he hath been consoled by thy sweet face.
The maids who tarry in thy company
For thy dear sake are pleasing in my sight,
And I would beg them of their courtesy
To honour thee each one with all her might
And ’neath thy sway contentedly to fall,
Because thou art the mistress of them all.
[32]
GUIDO CAVALCANTI, 1255-1300
Canzone
FRESCA rosa novella,
piacente primavera,
per prata e per rivera
gaiamente cantando,
vostro fin pregio mando — a la verdura,
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Lo vostro pregio fino
in gio’ si rinovelli
da grandi e da zitelli
per ciascuno cammino.
E cantine li augelli,
ciascuno in suo latino,
da sera e da matino
su li verdi arbuscielli.
Tutto lo mondo canti,
poi che lo tempo vene,
sì come si convene,
vostr’ altezza pregiata;
chè siete angelicata — criatura.
Angelica sembianza
in voi, Donna, riposa.
Dio, quanto aventurosa
fue la mia disianza!
Vostra cera gioiosa,
poi che passa ed avanza
natura e costumanza,
ben è mirabil cosa.
Fra lor, le donne, dea,
vi chiaman, come siete;
tanto adorna parete
ch’ eo non saccio contare;
e chi poría pensare — oltr’ a natura?
Oltr’ a natura umana
vostra fina piagenza
fece Dio, per essenza
che voi foste sovrana.
Perchè vostra parvenza
vêr me non sia lontana,
or no me sia villana
la dolce provedenza.
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E, se vi pare oltraggio
ch’ ad amarvi sia dato,
non sia da voi blasmato,
che solo amor mi sforza,
contre’ a cui non val forza — nè misura.
Ballata
IN un boschetto trovai pasturella
più che la stella — bella al mi’ parere.
Cavelli avea biondetti e ricciutelli
e li occhi pien d’ amor, cera rosata:
con sua verghetta pasturav’ agnelli,
e, scalza, di rugiada era bagnata;
cantava come fosse ’nnamorata;
er’ adornata — di tutto piacere.
D’ amor la salutai inmantenente
e domandai s’ avesse compagnia,
ed ella mi rispose dolcemente
che sola sola per lo bosco gia,
e disse: “Sacci, quando l’ augel pia,
allor disia — ’l mio cor drudo avere.”
Po’ che mi disse di sua condizione,
e per lo bosco augelli audío cantare,
fra me stesso dicea: “Or’ è stagione
di questa pasturella gio’ pigliare.”
Merzè le chiesi sol che di baciare
e d’ abbracciare — se fosse ’n volere.
Per man mi prese d’ amorosa voglia
e disse che donato m’ avea ’l core.
Menommi sott’ una freschetta foglia
là dov’ i’ vidi fior d’ ogni colore,
e tanto vi sentío gioia e dolzore,
che dio d’ amore — parvemi vedere.
38
Sonetto
A VETE ’n vo’ li fiori e la verdura
e ciò che luce ed è bello a vedere;
risplende più che ’l sol vostra figura;
chi vo’ non vede ma’ non pò valere.
In questo mondo non ha creatura
si piena di bieltà nè di piacere:
e chi d’ amor si teme, l’ assicura
vostro bel viso, e non pò più temer.
Le donne che vi fanno compagnia
assa’ mi piaccion per lo vostro onore,
ed i’ le prego, per lor cortesia
che qual più puote più vi faccia onore,
ed aggia cara vostra segnoria,
perchè di tutte sete la migliore.
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