Like as, to make our appetite more keen
Language: English
Like as, to make our appetite more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge;
As, to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge;
Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding;
And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness
To be diseas'd, ere that there was true needing.
Thus policy in love, to anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults assur'd,
And brought to medicine a healthful state
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cur'd;
But thence I learn and find the lesson true,
Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you.
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This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 112
Come per rendere il nostro appetito più...
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English
Come per rendere il nostro appetito più aguzzo
il gusto stimoliamo con sostanze piccanti;
Come per evitare un immaginario disturbo
ci ammaliamo sul serio assumendo purganti;
Così, colmo della tua dolce dolcezza che non è mai troppa,
con salse amare ho il mio vitto condito,
e malato di benessere mi parve buona cosa
ammalarmi prima che fosse dovuto.
Così una strategia d’amore, per porre rimedio
a mali non ancora reali, creò colpe vere
e affidò al medico un paziente sano
che, sazio di bene, volle curarsi col male.
Da tutto questo ricavo un insegnamento vero,
chi s’ammala di te assume pure un veleno.
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- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2025 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.
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This text was added to the website: 2025-07-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 103