A Canzone From Dante's La Vita Nuova translated by David R. Slavitt
Ladies, you who can understand love, let me
speak to you of my lady. I cannot praise
her highly enough, but poems can be ways
of bringing relief to a sorely distracted mind.
When I consider her worth and quality,
Love lulls me into such a pleasant daze
that I am dumbfounded. Could I but blurt one phrase,
anyone who heard my words would find
himself also in love. (Love may be blind
but isn’t deaf. I must, therefore, take good care
to show some circumspection in what I dare
say. Sweet ladies, I rely on your kind
indulgence, upon which I must here depend
as if I spoke to a dear and intimate friend.
An angel speaks to the Mind of God to report
that there is a marvel on earth both strange and rare
whose actions arise from a radiant soul down there,
the glow of which illuminates the sky
even to paradise’s heights. In short,
our only lack in heaven is her fair
and splendid presence. All the saints declare
that the Lord must take some action to rectify
this defect promptly. Fortunately, I
can announce that Pity speaks to God as well:
His judgment is that the lady ought to dwell
on earth for a while longer: “It is my
will that he say to the souls in hell that this
was the vision he had of hope of heaven’s bliss.”
If they call out for my lady in heaven, then you
who wish to appear as gentlewomen should learn
from her example and each of you in your turn
should follow in her footsteps as well as you can
and attend upon her as I have tried to do,
despite the difficulties, for one may discern
how Love casts a chill into base hearts that can burn
as ice does. In an ordinary man
the mind goes blank and all his vital élan
vanishes. He is either ennobled by
the encounter or else he is likely to sicken and die,
humbled and shamed—although it is God’s plan
than none whom she has engaged in conversation
by virtue of her virtue can suffer damnation.
Love asks himself, how can a mortal be
at once so beautiful and so pure. I know
of none like her. It is almost as though
the Lord had decided that he would create in her
an ornament for the world, a novelty
whose outward features would dazzle and serve to show
her inner perfection. Nature alone can’t go
to any such heights—as if her appearance were
the touchstone of a beauty that can stir
and refine the hearts of any who may pass
her by in the street. This singular lady has
the power to be the innocent ravisher
of all men’s hearts, a quality that defies
us all so that we’re forced to avert our eyes.
Canzone, I know that you will journey far,
speaking to women when I send you on
your way and into the world. When you have gone,
because you are my offspring, let me to say
what your duties and my purposes are:
to ask of any, hither, thither, or yon,
to help you find the lady, that paragon
whose praises are in you on proud display.
Avoid all crude and vulgar people, for they
are a waste of your time. Gentle ladies and men
will tell you where Love is, and he again
will direct your feet to find her the fastest way.
Speak well of me to Love. Hold your head high
and convey to him my respects. I pray you, try.
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