Xlvi. _Love's Flame Doth Feed On Age._ Poem by Michelangelo Buonarroti
Xlvi. _Love's Flame Doth Feed On Age._
Se da' prim' anni.
If some mild heat of love in youth confessed
Burns a fresh heart with swift consuming fire,
What will the force be of a flame more dire
Shut up within an old man's cindery breast?
If the mere lapse of lengthening years hath pressed
So sorely that life, strength, and vigour tire,
How shall he fare who must ere long expire,
When to old age is added love's unrest?
Weak as myself, he will be whirled away
Like dust by winds kind in their cruelty,
Robbing the loathly worm of its last prey.
A little flame consumed and fed on me
In my green age: now that the wood is dry,
What hope against this fire more fierce have I?
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4/19/2024 7:35:53 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Michelangelo Buonarroti - Rime 233. Se da' prim'anni aperto un lento e poco Se da’ prim’anni aperto un lento e poco ardor distrugge in breve un verde core, che farà, chiuso po’ da l’ultim’ore, d’un più volte arso un insaziabil foco? Se ’l corso di più tempo dà men loco5 a la vita, a le forze e al valore, che farà a quel che per natura muore l’incendio arroto d’amoroso gioco? Farà quel che di me s’aspetta farsi: cenere al vento sì pietoso e fero,10 c’a’ fastidiosi vermi il corpo furi. Se, verde, in picciol foco i’ piansi e arsi, che, più secco ora in un sì grande, spero che l’alma al corpo lungo tempo duri?