Nè perchè faccia indietro April ritorno,
116 Si rinfiora ella mai, nè si rinverde.
Cogliam la rosa in sul mattino adorno
Di questo dì, chè tosto il seren perde:
Cogliam d’Amor la rosa: amiamo or quando
120 Esser si puote riamato amando.
XV
“So, in the passing of a day, doth pass
The bud and blossom of the life of man,
Nor e’er doth flourish more, but like the grass
Cut down, becometh withered, pale and wan:
Oh gather then the rose while time thou hast
Short is the day, done when it scant began,
Gather the rose of love, while yet thou mayest,
Loving, be loved; embracing, be embraced.”
XV
‘So passeth in the passing of a day
Life’s bloom and verdure, nor, tho’ April’s showers
Return with promise of another May,
Will it reblossom, or again bear flowers.
Cull we, then, roses while life’s morning be
Pranked with that prime which time will soon remove;
Cull we Love’s rose, and let us love while we,
Still loving, meet with fond return of love.’
XVI.
Tacque, e concorde degli augelli il coro,
Quasi approvando, il canto indi ripiglia;
Raddoppian le colombe i bacj loro:
124 Ogni animal d’amar si riconsiglia:
Par che la dura quercia, e ‘l casto alloro,
E tutta la frondosa ampia famiglia,
Par che la terra e l’acqua, e formi e spiri
128 Dolcissimi d’Amor sensi e sospiri.
XVI
He ceased, and as approving all he spoke,
The choir of birds their heavenly tunes renew,
The turtles sighed, and sighs with kisses broke,
The fowls to shades unseen by pairs withdrew;
It seemed the laurel chaste, and stubborn oak,
And all the gentle trees on earth that grew,
It seemed the land, the sea, and heaven above,
All breathed out fancy sweet, and sighed out love.
XVI
He ceased; as if approving it, the choir
Of tuneful birds take up the impassioned strain;
The doves kiss fondly, with renewed desire;
Nor is there creature can from love refrain:
The vestal laurel, the hard-hearted oak,
And all the various members of the grove,
And earth and air, appear to assume the look,
And the sighs breathe, of universal love.
XVII.
Fra melodia sì tenera, e fra tante
Vaghezze allettatrici e lusinghiere
Va quella coppia; e rigida e costante
132 Se stessa indura ai vezzi del piacere.
Ecco tra fronde e fronde il guardo innante
Penetra, e vede, o pargli di vedere:
Vede pur certo il vago, e la diletta,
136 Ch’egli è in grembo alla donna, essa all’erbetta.
XVII
Through all this music rare, and strong consent
Of strange allurements, sweet bove mean and measure,
Severe, firm, constant, still the knights forthwent,
Hardening their hearts gainst false enticing pleasure,
Twixt leaf and leaf their sight before they sent,
And after crept themselves at ease and leisure,
Till they beheld the queen, set with their knight
Besides the lake, shaded with boughs from sight:
XVII
‘Mid such attractive, such enchanting sights,
‘Mid song so dulcet, so divine as this,
Unmoved and firm proceed the noble knights,
Steeled ‘gainst the spell of such surpassing bliss;
When, where an opening the thick branches leave,
They cast their eyes, and see, or seem to see,
Yes, they the lover and the loved perceive —
He’s on her lap, on flowers reclining she.
XVIII.
Ella dinanzi al petto ha il vel diviso,
E il crin sparge incomposto al vento estivo.
Langue per vezzo: e ‘l suo infiammato viso
140 Fan biancheggiando i bei sudor più vivo.
Qual raggio in onda, le scintilla un riso
Negli umidi occhj tremulo e lascivo.
Sovra lui pende: ed ei nel grembo molle
144 Le posa il capo, e ‘l volto al volto attolle.
XVIII
Her breasts were naked, for the day was hot,
Her locks unbound waved in the wanton wind;
Some deal she sweat, tired with the game you wot,
Her sweat-drops bright, white, round, like pearls of Ind;
Her humid eyes a fiery smile forthshot
That like sunbeams in silver fountains shined,
O’er him her looks she hung, and her soft breast
The pillow was, where he and love took rest.
XVIII
Her parted veil betrays her breast to view,
Her tresses wanton in the summer air;
She languishes to charm; a sheet of dew,
Her fair face blanching, renders it more fair;
Like light in water, a lascivious smile
Shimmers in her moist eyes; with witching grace
She o’er him bends. He in her lap the while
Pillows his head, and lifts to hers his face,
XIX.
E i famelici sguardi avidamente
In lei pascendo, or si consuma e strugge.
S’inchina, e i dolci bacj ella sovente
148 Liba or dagli occhj, e dalle labbra or sugge:
Ed in quel punto ei sospirar si sente
Profondo sì, che pensi, or l’alma fugge
E in lei trapassa peregrina. Ascosi
152 Mirano i due guerrier gli atti amorosi.
XIX
His hungry eyes upon her face he fed,
And feeding them so, pined himself away;
And she, declining often down her head,
His lips, his cheeks, his eyes kissed, as he lay,
Wherewith he sighed, as if his soul had fled
From his frail breast to hers, and there would stay
With her beloved sprite: the armed pair
These follies all beheld and this hot fare.
XIX
And, greedily depasturing his looks
On her dear charms, consumed, exhausted lies.
She, stooping down, now nectarous kisses sucks
From his lush lips, now tastes them in his eyes;
But at that moment he so deeply sighed,
You’d think his very soul had passed away
To transmigrate in her. The knights aside
The lovers’ amorous dalliance survey.
XX.
Dal fianco dell’amante, estranio arnese,
Un cristallo pendea lucido e netto.
Sorse, e quel fra le mani a lui sospese,
156 Ai misterj d’Amor ministro eletto.
Con luci ella ridenti, ei con accese,
Mirano in varj oggetti un sol oggetto:
Ella del vetro a se fa specchio: ed egli
160 Gli occhj di lei sereni a sè fa speglj.
XX
Down by the lovers’ side there pendent was
A crystal mirror, bright, pure, smooth, and neat,
He rose, and to his mistress held the glass,
A noble page, graced with that service great;
She, with glad looks, he with inflamed, alas,
Beauty and love beheld, both in one seat;
Yet them in sundry objects each espies,
She, in the glass, he saw them in her eyes:
XX
A lucid crystal from the lover’s waist
(Outlandish instrument) dependent lies;
She rose, and in his hands unblushing placed
That chosen agent of love’s mysteries.
He with inflamed, with laughing eyes the lass,
In different objects one alone descries:
She of the crystal makes her looking-glass,
And he his mirror of her lustrous eyes.
XXI.
L’uno di servitù, l’altra d’impero
Si gloria: ella in se stessa, ed egli in lei.
Volgi, dicea, deh volgi, il cavaliero
164 a me quegli occhj, onde beata bei:
Chè son, se tu no ‘l sai, ritratto vero
Delle bellezze tue gl’incendj miei.
La forma lor, le meraviglie appieno,
168 Più che ‘l cristallo tuo, mostra il mio seno.
XXI
Her, to command; to serve, it pleased the knight;
He proud of bondage; of her empire, she;
“My dear,” he said, “that blessest with thy sight
Even blessed angels, turn thine eyes to me,
For painted in my heart and portrayed right
Thy worth, thy beauties and perfections be,
Of which the form; the shape and fashion best,
Not in this glass is seen, but in my breast.
XXI
One boasts her empire, one his slavery —
She in herself, he in her loveliness.
‘Ah, turn,’ he whispers, ‘darling, turn on me
Those eyes which, blessed with, have such power to bless
For know, the fire that burns me, but reflects
Thy charms, and tells how beautiful thou art;
Thy beauty, as portrayed in its effects,
Less shows the crystal than reveals my heart.
XXII.
Deh, poichè sdegni me, com’egli è vago
Mirar tu almen potessi il proprio volto:
Chè ‘l guardo tuo, ch’altrove non è pago,
172 Gioirebbe felice in se rivolto.
Non può specchio ritrar sì dolce imago:
Nè in picciol vetro è un paradiso accolto.
Specchio t’è degno il Cielo, e nelle stelle
176 Puoi riguardar le tue sembianze belle.
XXII
“And if thou me disdain, yet be content
At least so to behold thy lovely hue,
That while thereon thy looks are fixed and bent
Thy happy eyes themselves may see and view;
So rare a shape no crystal can present,
No glass contain that heaven of beauties true;
Oh let the skies thy worthy mirror be!
And in dear stars try shape and image see.”
XXII
‘Ah, would at least thou couldst behold how fair
Is thine own face, as thus thou slightest me;
Since thy bright glance, dissatisfied elsewhere,
Can in itself alone contented be.
The clearest crystal but thy beauty mars;
How can small glass a Paradise comprise?
Heaven is thy worthy mirror, and the stars
Alone reflect the lustre of thine eyes,’
XXIII.
Ride Armida a quel dir: ma non che cesse
Dal vagheggiarsi, o da’ suoi bei lavori.
Poichè intrecciò le chiome, e che ripresse
180 Con ordin vago i lor lascivi errori,
Torse in anella i crin minuti, e in esse,
Quasi smalto su l’or, consparse i fiori:
E nel bel sen le peregrine rose
184 Giunse ai nativi giglj, e ‘l vel compose.
XXIII
And with that word she smiled, and ne’ertheless
Her love-toys still she used, and pleasures bold!
Her hair, that done, she twisted up in tress,
And looser locks in silken laces rolled,
Her curles garlandwise she did up-dress,
Wherein, like rich enamel laid on gold,
The twisted flowers smiled, and her white breast
The lilies there that spring with roses dressed.
XXIII
Armida smiled at that, but ceases not
To snatch fresh charms from her coquettish toils:
She smooths her flowing hair, and, having got
Into fair shape its wanton errors, coils
It into ringlets, which with flowers she inweaves,
As with enamel gold; with alien roses
The native lilies of her breast relieves,
And then, self-satisfied, her veil composes.
XXIV.
Nè il superbo pavon sì vago in mostra
Spiega la pompa delle occhiute piume:
Nè l’Iride sì bella indora e inostra
188 Il curvo grembo e rugiadoso al lume.
Ma bel sovra ogni fregio il cinto mostra,
Che neppur nuda ha di lasciar costume.
Diè corpo a chi non l’ebbe; e, quando il fece
192 Tempre mischiò ch’altrui mescer non lece;
XXIV
The jolly peacock spreads not half so fair
The eyed feathers of his pompous train;
Nor golden Iris so bends in the air
Her twenty-colored bow, through clouds of rain;
Yet all her ornaments, strange, rich and rare,
Her girdle did in price and beauty stain,
Nor that, with scorn, which Tuscan Guilla lost,
Igor Venus Ceston, could match this for cost.
XXIV
The peacock ne’er such beauty spreads in show
In the full splendour of his Argus plumes;
Not Iris such, when her dew-spangled bow
With gold and glowing purple she illumes.
But rich, beyond all measure, was her zone,
Relinquished never, even when undrest,
And made of immaterial things: alone
She to compose it the rare skill possessed.
XXV.
Teneri sdegni, e placide e tranquille
Repulse, e cari vezzi, e liete paci,
Sorrisi, parolette, e dolci stille
196 Di pianto, e sospir tronchi, e molli bacj;
Fuse tai cose tutte, e poscia unille,
Ed al foco temprò di lente faci:
E ne formò quel sì mirabil cinto,
200 Di ch’ella aveva il bel fianco succinto.
XXV
Of mild denays, of tender scorns, of sweet
Repulses, war, peace, hope, despair, joy, fear,
Of smiles, jests, mirth, woe, grief, and sad regreet,
Sighs, sorrows, tears, embracements, kisses dear,
That mixed first by weight and measure meet,
Then at an easy fire attempered were,
This wondrous girdle did Armida frame,
And, when she would be loved, wore the same.
XXV
The coy refusal, the voluptuous leer,
The feuds and truces, the heart-piercing eyes,
The tender kiss, the sympathetic tear,
The playful raillery, the broken sighs,
She fused together, welded into one,
Then tempered slowly o’er the furnace blast,
And with them formed the talismanic zone,
Whose mystic circle girt her lissome waist.
XXVI.
Fine alfin posto al vagheggiar, richiede
A lui commiato, e ‘l bacia, e si diparte.
Ella per uso il dì n’esce, e rivede
204 Gli affari suoi, le sue magiche carte.
Egli riman; chè a lui non si concede
Por orma, o trar momento in altra parte:
E tra le fere spazia e tra le piante,
208 Se non quanto è con lei, romito amante.
XXVI
But when her wooing fit was brought to end,
She congee took, kissed him, and went her way;
For once she used every day to wend
Bout her affairs, her spells and charms to say:
The
youth remained, yet had no power to bend
One step from thence, but used there to stray
Mongst the sweet birds, through every walk and grove
Alone, save for an hermit false called Love.
XXVI
At length, her toilette o’er, she asks his leave,
Embraces her dear lover, and departs,
Since during day she took a short reprieve,
Intent on business and her magic arts.
But he remains; she ne’er permission grants
Him for a moment from that spot to stir;
He can but wander ‘mid the beasts and plants,
A hermit lover, but for being with her.
XXVII.
Ma quando l’ombra co’ silenzj amici
Rappella ai furti lor gli amanti accorti;
Traggono le notturne ore felici
212 Sotto un tetto medesmo entro a quegli orti.
Ma poichè volta a più severi uficj
Lasciò Armida il giardino, e i suoi diporti;
I duo, che tra i cespuglj eran celati,
216 Scoprirsi a lui pomposamente armati.
XXVII
And when the silence deep and friendly shade
Recalled the lovers to their wonted sport,
In a fair room for pleasure built, they laid,
And longest nights with joys made sweet and short.
Now while the queen her household things surveyed,
And left her lord her garden and disport,
The twain that hidden in the bushes were
Before the prince in glistering arms appear:
XXVII
But when the twilight’s friendly silence calls
The impatient lovers to their stolen delight,
Beneath one roof, inside the garden walls,
They pass the blissful moments of the night;
Now, when Armida, for severer rites,
Had left the garden and love’s gentle charms,
From their umbrageous hiding-place the knights
Disclosed themselves, arrayed in pompous arms.
XXVIII.
Qual feroce destrier ch’al faticoso
Onor dell’arme vincitor sia tolto:
E lascivo marito, in vil riposo,
220 Fra gli armenti e ne’ paschi erri disciolto;
Se ‘l desta o suon di tromba, o luminoso
Acciar, colà tosto annitrendo è volto;
Già già brama l’arringo, e l’uom sul dorso
224 Portando, urtato riurtar nel corso.
XXVIII
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