Saturday 15 December 2012

Poem: Love made me laugh and cry

I'm going to pull this out of an earlier post, where it's buried at the bottom; because it's such a lovely little poem:
Love made me laugh and cry, but never did
I write except in fire, in water, or in wind;
Often I found that mercy
Was cruel, always feeling myself die as others lived.
Sometimes from a darker abyss I rose to the sky,
Sometimes I fell down again;
Here at last I make my final stand!
Giovambattista Strozzi. 1593.

1 comment:

Adam Roberts Project said...

Here's the original Italian:

MADRIGALE.

Risi e piansi d'Amor; ne peró mai
Se non in fiamma, ò 'n onda, ò 'n vento scrissi;
Spesso mercè trovai
Crudel; sempre in me morto, in altri vissi!
Hor da' più scuri abyssi al ciel m'alzai,
Hor ne pur caddi giuso;
Stance al fin qui son chiuso!