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by John Donne (1572 - 1631)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

A valediction: of weeping
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
Let me pour forth
My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,
For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,
And by this mintage they are something worth.
For thus they be
Pregnant of thee ;
Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more ;
When a tear falls, that thou fall'st which it bore ;
So thou and I are nothing then, when on a divers shore.

On a round ball
A workman, that hath copies by, can lay
An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,
And quickly make that, which was nothing, all.
So doth each tear,
Which thee doth wear,
A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,
Till thy tears mix'd with mine do overflow
This world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolvèd so.

O ! more than moon,
Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere ;
Weep me not dead, in thine arms, but forbear
To teach the sea, what it may do too soon ;
Let not the wind
Example find
To do me more harm than it purposeth :
Since thou and I sigh one another's breath,
Whoe'er sighs most is cruellest, and hastes the other's death.

Text Authorship:

  • by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "A valediction: of weeping" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Ross Lee Finney (1906 - 1997), "A valediction: of weeping", published c1957, from Three Love Songs to Words by John Donne, no. 1. [
     text not verified 
    ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , title 1: "Un commiato: del piangere", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-08-09
Line count: 27
Word count: 195

Un commiato: del piangere
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Oh, lasciami pur versare
lacrime davanti al tuo volto, finché ti sto accanto,
perché il tuo volto le conia e recano il tuo stampo
e per tal conio hanno un qualche valore.
Così ogni mia lacrima è
Pregna solamente di te;
Frutto di grande pena, e di maggior dolore emblema;
E se  una lacrima cade, tu, che lei porta, con lei insieme
Cadi, sì che tu ed io più nulla allora siamo, e su sponde diverse.

Su di un globo rotondo
Un artigiano, in copia può rappresentare
Europa, Africa e  Asia
E ben presto fare di ciò, che niente era, il Mondo.
Così ogni lacrima è
Che rappresenta te;
Un globo, anzi un Mondo diviene per la tua impronta
Finché il tuo pianto, al mio mischiato, non sommerga,
con un flutto che da te viene, questo mondo, e il mio cielo dissolva.

Oh, più della luna
Non sollevare mari per annegarmi nella tua sfera;
Non piangermi morto fra le tue braccia, ma trattieniti
Dall'insegnare al mare, ciò che potrebbe fare presto;
Né lasciare che  il vento
Ne ricavi un esempio
Per farmi maggior danno di quanto si proponga:
poiché tu ed io, sospirando, ci togliamo il respiro a vicenda
e chi più sospira è più crudele, ché dell'altro  la morte affretta.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2008 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "A valediction: of weeping"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2008-08-21
Line count: 27
Word count: 211

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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