by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
Translation © by Charles Hopkins (1952 - 2007)

Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai
Language: Italian (Italiano) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE LIT SPA
Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai
Ch'i [veni]1 per goderti più da presso;
E sai ch'i' so, che tu sa' c'i' son desso:
A che più indugio a salutarci omai?
Se vera è la speranza che mi dai,
Se vero è 'l [buon]2 desio che m'è concesso,
Rompasi il mur fra l'uno e l'altro messo;
Chè doppia forza hann' i celati guai.
S'i' amo sol di te, signor mie caro,
Quel che di te più ami, non ti sdegni;
Che l'un dell'altro spirto s'innamora,
Quel che nel tuo bel volto bramo e 'mparo,
E mal compres' è degli umani ingegni,
Chi 'l vuol [veder]3, convien che prima mora.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   K. Sorabji 

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View original text (without footnotes)
1 K. Sorabji: "vengo"
2 K. Sorabji: "gran"
3 K. Sorabji: "saper"

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 115

You know that I know, my lord, that you know
Language: English  after the Italian (Italiano) 
You know that I know, my lord, that you know
That I come to have the pleasure of you closer to hand,
And you know that I know that you know who I am:
What purpose then in continuing not to acknowledge each other, even now?

If the hope that you give me is real,
If the great desire that has been granted me is real,
May the wall that has risen up between the one and the other be broken down,
Since concealed woes have a double force.

If I love in you, my dear lord,
Only that which you love most in yourself, do not be scornful,
Since it is simply the one spirit loving the other.

What I long for and find in your fair countenance,
And what is misunderstood by mundane intellects,
Is that whosoever wishes to know this must first die.

Confirmed with an original Microsoft Word Document provided by Alistair Hinton.


Text Authorship:

Based on:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 146