REPLY OF GUIDO CAVALCANTI
by: Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
- hou hast beheld all power, meseems, and worth,
- All joy and every good that man can know,
- If thou hast proved the virtue of that lord
- Who sovereign o'er the world of honour rules;
- For he delights to live where troubles die,
- And with a mind compassionate is just;
- So softly o'er the fancy steals in sleep,
- That hearts he bears away without a pang.
- Your heart he bore away, for he perceived
- That to your lady Death was laying claim;
- And fearing this, sustained her with that heart.
- When he appeared to go his way in grief,
- Sweet was the dream, for then it fully told
- That sorrow's opposite was conquering.y
"Reply of Guido Cavalcanti" is reprinted from The Lyrical Poems of Dante Alighieri. Translated by Charles Lyell. London: William Smith, 1845. |
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