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The other two, slight air, and purging fire
Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
The first my thought, the other my desire,
These present-absent with swift motion slide.
For when these quicker elements are gone
In tender embassy of love to thee,
My life, being made of four, with two alone
Sinks down to death, oppress'd with melancholy;
Until life's composition be recur'd
By those swift messengers return'd from thee,
Who even but now come back again, assur'd,
Of thy fair health, recounting it to me:
This told, I joy; but then no longer glad,
I send them back again, and straight grow sad.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 45 [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 Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Sonnet XLV", 2010 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XLV", 1865 [ 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. 45, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sonetto XLV", copyright © 2013, (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: 105
Gli altri due elementi, lieve aria e fuoco depurante,
ti accompagnano entrambi, ovunque io stia a dimorare;
mio pensiero la prima, l'altro mio desiderio ardente,
presenti e assenti a un tempo, in veloce mutare.
E quando, più veloci, questi mi hanno abbandonato,
e, teneri messaggeri d'amore, ti fanno corte,
I miei quattro elementi, da cui sono formato,
restano in due e, da malinconia oppresso, affondo nella morte;
Fino a che l'armonia vitale si va ricomponendo
quando da te i messaggeri fanno ritorno,
che proprio ora mi stanno assicurando
del tuo felice stato, e me ne fanno racconto:
Io, udito questo, mi colmo di gioia; ma non per troppo tempo
ché li rimando da te, e triste ridivento.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2013 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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Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 45
This text was added to the website: 2013-09-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 117