English poem
Xiv
by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1568–1646)
S’ un casto amor, s ’una pietà superna, S’ una fortuna infra dua amanti equale, S’ un’ aspra sorte all ’un dell’ altro cale, S’ un spirto, s’ un voler duo cor governa; S’ un’ anima in duo corpi è fatta eterna, Ambo levando al cielo e con pari ale; S’ amor d’ un colpo e d’ un dorato strale Le viscier di duo petti arda e discierna; S’ amar l’ un l’ altro, e nessun se medesmo, D’ un gusto e d’ un diletto, a tal mercede, C’ a un fin voglia l’ uno e l’ altro porre; Se mille e mille non sarien centesmo A tal nodo d’ amore, a tanta fede; E sol l’ isdegnio il può rompere e sciorre?
If one chaste love, one sacred piety, One fortune sharèd ’twixt two lovers so, That either’s care from heart to heart may flow, Impelled by one desire, one energy; If bodies both are by one soul controlled, That wingèd bears them up to heaven’s gate; If love, with one essay, doth penetrate And burn two bosoms with one shaft of gold; If living each in other, self forgot, One liking, one felicity, awake One will to move toward one desirèd lot; If thousand ties as holy, fail to make A thousandth part; the consecrated knot, Shall pride, and pride alone, avail to break?