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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374)
Translation © by A. S. Kline

Se lamentar augelli, o verdi fronde
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG
Se lamentar augelli, o verdi fronde
mover soavemente a l'aura estiva,
o roco mormorar di lucide onde
s'ode d'una fiorita et fresca riva,

là 'v'io seggia d'amor pensoso et scriva,
lei che 'l ciel ne mostrò, terra n'asconde,
veggio, et odo, et intendo ch'anchor viva
di sí lontano a' sospir' miei risponde.

«Deh, perché inanzi 'l tempo ti consume?
- mi dice con pietate - a che pur versi
degli occhi tristi un doloroso fiume?

Di me non pianger tu, ché' miei dí fersi
morendo eterni, et ne l'interno lume,
quando mostrai de chiuder, gli occhi apersi».

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), no title, appears in Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta) , in 2. Rime In morte di Madonna Laura, no. 279 [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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl August Förster (1784 - 1841) ; composed by Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (A. S. Kline) , no title, copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Francisque Reynard) , "Canzone CCLXXIX Se lamentar augelli"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 95

If the birds lament, or the green leaves
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano) 
If the birds lament, or the green leaves
move gently in the summer breeze,
or soft murmurs of the clear waves
are heard from a fresh flowering river-bank,

where I sit thinking of love and writing,
then I see her whom heaven shows, earth hides,
and I hear and understand that she still lives,
though far away, responding to my sighs.

‘Ah, why are you so aged before your time?’
she asks with pity, ‘why does a sad stream
always flow from your grieving eyes?

Don’t weep for me, my days, in dying,
became eternal ones, and when the light
within seemed to darken, my eyes opened.’

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2002 by A. S. Kline, (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 Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), no title, appears in Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta) , in 2. Rime In morte di Madonna Laura, no. 279
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2015-03-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 107

Gentle Reminder

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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