I do not know if that smile | I do not know if that smile

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Jordyn Elizabeth Beranek

Non so se quel sorriso

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG

Non so se quel sorriso
mi schernisce o m’affida
se quel mirarmi fiso
m’alletta o mi diffida.
Gia schernito e deriso
da bella donna infida
non vorrei più che’l core
fosse strazio d’amore.
 
Non vo’ più per dolcezza
d’immaginato bene.
Nutrimi d’amarezza
vivendo sempre in pene,
né per nuova bellezza
portar i lacci e catene,
né graver l’alma ancella
di inferma novella.
 
Se tu vuoi ch’io t’adori
d’amor stella gentile,
ti canti, e ch’io t’onori
su la mia cetra docile
a più degni tesori
a guideron non vile
chiama l’avida speme
che spregiata già teme.
 
Soffrir’io più non voglio
la ferità crudele
d’un cor cinto d’orgoglio,
d’un anima infedele’
Né tra scoglio né tra scoglie
affidar più le vele
della mia libertate
senza certa pietate.

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked 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 Francesca Caccini (1587 - c1640), "Non so se quel sorriso", published 1618 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Jordyn Elizabeth Beranek) , "I do not know if that smile", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Jordyn Elizabeth Beranek

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-19
Line count: 32
Word count: 125

I do not know if that smile

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

I do not know if that smile
sneers at me or reassures me;
if that fixed look
attracts me or warn me.
Already mocked and derided
by a beautiful, but unfaithful woman,
I do not want this heart
tormented by love.
 
I care no more about the sweetness
of imagined goodness.
You feed me with bitterness,
living always in pain,
a new love
no longer laces and chains me,
I will not burden the maiden’s soul
with a pitiful story.
 
If you want me to adore you,
gentle star of love,  
I sing of you, and honor you
on my sweet lyre,
toward more worthy treasures
guided not by a coward,
I call the eager hope
which scorns fear.
 
I no longer want to suffer
the cruel wound
of a heart bound by pride;
an unfaithful soul.
No longer between rocks,
I will not trust the sails
of my liberty
without the certainty of compassion.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2014 by Jordyn Elizabeth Beranek, (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 Italian (Italiano) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-19
Line count: 32
Word count: 155