Petrarch (65 page)

whoever called with faith.

Virgin, if toward mercy

for extreme misery of worldly things

you ever turned, then
bend now
to my prayer,

and
help me in my war
,

though
I am dust
and
you are queen of Heaven
.

Virgin so wise
, one of
the lovely number

of all the blessèd, prudent virgins—rather,

the first of them and
with the brightest light
,

O sturdy shield
for all who are afflicted

against the blows that Death and Fortune wield

beneath which they’re
triumphant
, more than saved,

O refuge from
blind ardor
that is raging

in
foolish mortals
here.

Virgin,
those lovely eyes

that saw in sorrow those pitiless wounds

upon the sweet limbs of your cherished son,

turn to my dangerous state
,

who come imprudent
to you for your help.

Virgin so
pure and perfect
in all ways,

mother and the daughter both
of your own child,

who
brighten this life
and
adorn the other
;

through you your Son
, Son of the highest Father

(O shining,
lofty window
of the Heavens)

came down to save us in the
final days
,

and you among all earthly dwelling places

He chose—and only you.

Virgin so blessed and holy,

who change the tears of Eve
to happiness,

make me, for you can
,
worthy of this grace
,

O
blessèd without end
,

already crowned in the supernal realm.

Vergine santa, d’ogni grazia piena,

che per vera et altissima umiltate

salisti al ciel ond’ e’ miei preghi ascolti:

tu partoristi il Fonte di pietate

et di giustizia il Sol che rasserena

il secol pien d’errori oscuri et folti.

Tre dolci et cari nomi ài in te raccolti,

madre, figliuola et sposa,

Vergine gloriosa,

donna del Re che nostri lacci à sciolti

et fatto ’l mondo libero et felice,

ne le cui sante piaghe

prego ch’ appaghe il cor, vera beatrice.

Vergine sola al mondo, senza esempio,

che ’l Ciel di tue bellezze innamorasti,

cui né prima fu simil né seconda:

santi penseri, atti pietosi et casti

al vero Dio sacrato et vivo tempio

fecero in tua verginità feconda.

Per te po la mia vita esser ioconda

s’ a’ tuoi preghi, o Maria,

Vergine dolce et pia,

ove ’l fallo abondò la grazia abonda.

Con le ginocchia de la mente inchine

prego che sia mia scorta

et la mia torta via drizzi a buon fine.

Vergine chiara et stabile in eterno,

di questo tempestoso mare Stella,

d’ogni fedel nocchier fidata guida:

pon mente in che terribile procella

i’ mi ritrovo sol, senza governo,

et ò già da vicin l’ultime strida.

Ma pur in te l’anima mia si fida,

peccatrice, i’ nol nego,

Vergine, ma ti prego

che ’l tuo nemico del mio mal non rida.

Ricorditi che fece il peccar nostro

prender Dio per scamparne

umana carne al tuo virginal chiostro.

Virgin so holy, full of every grace
,

who through your true and high humility

rose up to Heaven where you hear my prayers,

who brought into this world the
Fount of pity
,

the
Sun of justice
who
brightens the world

which is so full of error dark and thick;

three sweet and cherished names you have collected:

mother, daughter, and bride
;

Virgin so glorious,

bride of the King who
freed us from our bonds

and made the world
a free and happy place
,

upon whose holy wounds

I pray, quiet my heart,
true Beatrix
.

Virgin without an equal
in the world,

whose beauty made all Heaven fall in love,

whom no one could
surpass or even reach
,

your holy thoughts
, your actions kind and chaste

prepared a consecrated,
living temple

of
rich virginity
for the true God.

Through you my life can know
what joy is like
,

if
through your prayers, O Mary
,

Virgin so sweet
and pious,

grace will abound
where sin abounded once.

And with the
knee of my mind bent
in prayer

I beg you be my guide
,

direct my twisted path to a good end.

Virgin eternal,
bright and stable star

above all this tempestuous sea of ours,

the faithful guide of every
faithful helmsman
,

consider now
how frightening is the storm

I’m caught in all alone
without a tiller
,

and I am close to my last drowning shouts.

But nonetheless in you my soul still trusts,

though it, no doubt, be sinful
,

Virgin, but I beg

you not to
let your foe have the last laugh
.

Remember that it was our sin made God

take on, for our salvation,

the flesh of man in your
virginal cloister
.

Vergine, quante lagrime ò già sparte,

quante lusinghe et quanti preghi indarno,

pur per mia pena et per mio grave danno!

Da poi ch’ i’ nacqui in su la riva d’Arno,

cercando or questa et or quell’altra parte,

non è stata mia vita altro ch’ affanno:

mortal bellezza, atti et parole m’ànno

tutta ingombrata l’alma.

Vergine sacra et alma,

non tardar, ch’ i’ son forse a l’ultimo anno;

ì dì miei più correnti che saetta

fra miserie et peccati

son sen’ andati et sol Morte n’aspetta.

Vergine, taie è terra et posto à in doglia

lo mio cor, che vivendo in pianto il tenne

et de mille miei mali un non sapea;

et per saperlo pur quel che n’avenne

fora avvenuto, ch’ ogni altra sua voglia

era a me morte et a lei fama rea.

Or tu, Donna del ciel, tu nostra Dea

(se dir lice et convensi),

Vergine d’alti sensi:

tu vedi il tutto, et quel che non potea

far altri è nulla a la tua gran vertute:

por fine al mio dolore

ch’ a te onore et a me fia salute.

Vergine in cui ò tutta mia speranza,

che possi et vogli al gran bisogno aitarme:

non mi lasciare in su l’estremo passo;

non guardar me, ma chi degnò crearme,

no ’l mio valor, ma l’alta sua sembianza

ch’ è in me ti mova a curar d’uom si basso.

Medusa et l’error mio m’àn fatto un sasso

d’umor vano stillante.

Vergine, tu di sante

lagrime et pie adempi ’l meo cor lasso,

ch’ almen l’ultimo pianto sia devoto,

senza terrestro limo,

come fu ’l primo non d’insania voto.

Virgin, how many tears
I’ve shed already,

how many flattering words and prayers in vain

for nothing but my pain and grievous loss!

Since I was born upon the Arno’s banks,

then wandering from one place to another,

my life has always been nothing but trouble.

Mortal beauty, actions, and words are what

have burdened all my soul.

Virgin holy, bountiful,

do not delay, this could be my last year;

my days
more swift than arrows
have sped off

through wretchedness and sin,

and there is only
Death awaiting me
.

Virgin,
that one is dust
and holds in grief

my heart, who while alive kept it in tears

and of my thousand sufferings
knew not one
;

and even had she known them then, what happened

would still have happened
—had she wished otherwise,

it would have meant my death and her dishonor.

Now you,
Lady of Heaven
,
you our Goddess
,

(if such a term
be fitting
),

Virgin of superb senses
,

you can see all, and what
could not be done

by others is no match for
your great power
:

end now my suffering

and
bring honor to you
, to me salvation.

Virgin, in whom
I place all of my hope

you can and will help me in my great need:

do not abandon me
at the last pass
,

not for my sake but His who made me man,

let not my own worth but
His own high likeness

in me move you to care for
one so low
.

Medusa and my sin
turned me to stone

dripping useless moisture.

Virgin, now with repentant

and holy
tears fill up my weary heart
;

at least let my last weeping
be devout
,

without the
mud of earth
,

as was the
first and insane vow
of mine.

Vergine umana et nemica d’orgoglio:

del comune principio amor t’induca

miserere d’un cor contrito umile;

ché se poca mortal terra caduca

amar con sì mirabil fede soglio,

che devrò far di te, cosa gentile?

Se dal mio stato assai misero et vile

per le tue man resurgo,

Vergine, i’ sacro et purgo

al tuo nome et pensieri e ’ngegno et stile,

la lingua e ’l cor, le lagrime e i sospiri.

Scorgimi al miglior guado

et prendi in grado i cangiati desiri.

Il di s’appressa et non pote esser lunge,

si corre il tempo et vola,

Vergine unica et sola,

e ’l cor or conscienzia or morte punge:

raccomandami al tuo Figliuol, verace

omo et verace Dio,

ch’ accolga ’l mio spirto ultimo in pace.

Virgin so kind
, the
enemy of pride
,

let
love of our same origin
move you,

have pity on a sorry, humble heart;

for if
a bit of mortal, fleeting dust

can make me love with
faith so marvelous
,

how then will I love you,
a noble thing
?

If from my state so wretched and so vile

I rise up at your hands
,

Virgin, then
in your name

I cleanse and give my thoughts and wit and style,

my tongue and heart, my tears and sighs to you.

Show me a better crossing

and please look kindly on my
changed desires
.

The day draws near
, it cannot be far off;

time runs and flies so fast,

Virgin, the one and only one,

and
death and conscience now stab
at my heart;

commend me to your Son who is the true

man and the truth of God
,

that He
accept my final breath in peace
.

In this introductory sonnet, Petrarch speaks, from outside the narrative he is about
to begin, of a time completed, as if he stands on an overlook observing his own history
unfolding below. The poem was probably written around 1347 when he decided to put
his poems in order for publication (and before the death of Laura, according to Wilkins
and others).

1.
these scattered verses:
Poems written over a long period of time, gathered and collected in this book.
Rime sparse
is the Italian version of Petrarch’s Latin title
Rerum vulgarium fragmenta.

2.
sighs with which I fed my heart:
In the language of medieval love poetry, the heart receives a mortal wound and is
kept alive with the help of lamentations.

3.
errant youthful days:
Errant
(errore)
signifies in Petrarch the behavior of one deluded, bewildered, and impassioned.

4.
in part:
He has changed his outlook since first taking up his pen, recalling his youthful
self as a distinct part of the whole person he wishes to reconstruct.

5.
for all the ways:
All the various and often contradictory moods of the poems which follow.

7.
anyone who knows love through its trials:
More than knowing about love with the intellect, the compassionate person will know
it from painful experience. Cf. Dante’s sonnet, “O you who travel on the road of Love,”
in
Vita nuova
VII.

9.
become the talk:
The object of wonder and speculation. The line has sources in Horace and Ovid.

11.
shame:
Petrarch makes triple reference to himself as object here, heaping blame on his errors.
See Dante,
Inferno
II, 3-4, for a triple reference to self as subject. See also
Vita nuova
III, where Dante introduces his maiden sonnet.

14.
fleeting dream:
Corresponding to his “errant youthful days.”

Always before impervious to love, he gazed with new eyes for a moment, with instant,
fatal results.

Love (Amor) is given a variety of guises in the
Canzoniere.
Often he has the character of the feudal lord in whose traces the lover labors. At
times he is indistinguishable from Laura, especially in his capacity as winged archer
or advisor. In poem 360, he appears to be satanic, but at times he is just a step
away from a Christ figure when he is addressed fervently as “Lord.” Always formidable,
he is rarely described as a pretty Cupid. In this sonnet, Love resembles the Greek
Eros, whose failure to overwhelm the poet in the past has made him vengeful. According
to Hesiod, Eros was not only the god of sensual love but a power which forms the world
by inner union of separate elements.