Mentre che 'l cor dagli amorosi vermi
fu consumato, e 'n fiamma amorosa arse,
di vaga fera le vestigia sparse
cercai per poggi solitarii et hermi;
et ebbi ardir cantando di dolermi
d'Amor, di lei che sí dura m'apparse:
ma l'ingegno et le rime erano scarse
in quella etate ai pensier' novi e 'nfermi.
Quel foco è morto, e 'l copre un picciol marmo:
che se col tempo fossi ito avanzando
(come già in altri) infino a la vecchiezza,
di rime armato, ond'oggi mi disarmo,
con stil canuto avrei fatto parlando
romper le pietre, et pianger di dolcezza.
Canzoniere 304
English translation
While my heart was being consumed
by loving worms, burned in loving fire,
I searched for traces of a wandering creature
through the solitary enclosing hills:
and was so ardent singing of the grief
of Love, of her who seemed so cruel:
but wit and verse came meagrely,
in those days, to my young and feeble mind.
That fire is dead, and a little marble hides it:
a fire that if it had increased with time
(as it has in others) as far as my old age,
armed with verses, where everything disarms me,
I would, with that mature style, have made stones
shatter with my speaking, and weep with sweetness.
Als Liebeswürmer mir noch zehrend lagen
Am Herzen und ich glüht' im Liebesbrande,
Sucht' ich durch einsame, durch öde Lande
Die Spur des flücht'gen Wildes zu erfragen,
Und wagt' es, singend Amorn anzuklagen
Und sie, die grausam spottete der Bande;
Doch fehlt' es mir an Reimen und Verstande
Zu neuer, kranker Weis'in jenen Tagen.
Die Flamm' ist todt, und kleiner Stein sie decket;
Wenn mit der Zeit sie, eie in Andern, wäre
Bis in mein Alter also fortgeschritten,
Mit Reimes Waffen, die ich nun gestrecket,
Und greisem Wort hätt' ich den Fels zerschnitten
Und ihm entrungen manche Freudenzähre.
Italian text
English translation
German translation