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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

O! lest the world should task you to...
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
O! lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me, that you should love
After my death, -- dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove;
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,
To do more for me than mine own desert,
And hang more praise upon deceased I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart:
O! lest your true love may seem false in this
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.
      For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
      And so should you, to love things nothing worth.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 72 [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 Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXXII", 1864-6 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 72, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 119

Per timore che il mondo ti costringa a...
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Per timore che il mondo ti costringa a rivelare
per quale mio merito mi continui ad amare
Quando morrò, scordami del tutto, amore
perché in  me non puoi provare nulla di valore;
a meno che tu non voglia escogitare qualche bugia virtuosa
che qualcosa di buono aggiunga al mio stesso deserto,
e che applichi più lodi all'io ormai morto
di quanto l’avara verità a fare sarebbe disposta:
Oh, non sia mai che il tuo vero amore possa apparire  falso
perché tu per amore parli bene di me dicendo menzogna,
Con il mio  corpo sia anche il mio nome sepolto,
per non vivere più coprendo me e anche te di vergogna.
Perché provo vergogna per ogni cosa che scrivo,
e così dovresti anche tu, che ami chi d’ogni valore è privo.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • 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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 72
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 130

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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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