My collection of love poems, The Distant Belovèd, began with 14 sonnets and 14 lyrics. Each group of 14 told the story, chronologically, of an unrequited love I have actually experienced. Over the past few years since completing those first 28 poems, the collection has expanded and today consists of almost 70 poems -- sonnets, formal lyrics, syllabic lyrics, and a very few free verse pieces. I have translated most of the poems into Italian, since the collection is written for an Italian and takes inspiration from both Dante's Vita Nova and the many poems Petrarch wrote for his Laura. This sonnet, "Fin' Amor," is from The Distant Belovèd's original "sonnet of sonnets" (which simply means a group of 14 sonnets, related by theme).
The world has known this kind of love before,
And better bards have poured out on the page
What I have tried to say. Upon this score
I've no illusions. Echoes from an age
When loving was a fine, ennobling art,
Suspire commiseration in my ear
And offer sweetest solace to my heart.
I am not alone. This orbiting sphere,
So full of folly, yearning, joy, and pain,
Will always know the weeping born of bliss,
Will always catch the fool who falls again,
For life and art depend on such as this.
Laugh, scorn, or pity: no matter to me;
For I will love, as long as love will be.
Il mondo ha già conosciuto questo tipo d'amore,
e poeti migliori versavano sulla pagina
ciò che ho cercato di dire. Su questo punto
non ho nessuna illusione. Echi d'un epoca
quando l'amare era un'arte bella e nobile,
sussurrano commiserazione nel mio orecchio
e offrono al cuor il conforto più dolce.
Non son sola. Questa sfera orbitante,
così piena di follia, desiderio, gioia, e pena,
sempre conoscerà il pianto nato di beatitudine,
sempre prenderà lo sciocco che cade di nuovo,
perché da queste cose dipendono la vita e l'arte.
Ridete, schernite, o compatite: non m'importa;
perché amerò fintanto che l'amore sarà.
[Translation by Leticia with Federica Galetto]
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