Sonetto
Language: Italian (Italiano)
Che fai? Che pensi? Che pur dietro guardi
nel tempo, che tornar non pote omai?
Anima sconsolata, che pur vai
giungendo legne al foco ove tu ardi?
Le soävi parole e i dolci sguardi
ch’ad un ad un descritti e dipinti hai
son levati da terra; ed è, ben sai,
qui ricercarli, intempestivo, e tardi.
Deh, non rinnovellar quel che n’ancide;
non seguir più pensier vago, fallace,
ma saldo e certo, che a buon fin ne guide.
Cerchiamo il ciel, se nulla qui ne piace;
ché mal per noi quella beltà si vide,
se viva e morta ne dovea tor pace.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Will Crutchfield) , "Sonnet", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2025-05-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 101
Sonnet
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
What are you doing, what are you thinking,
to look back on time gone by?
Disconsolate soul, why do you pile
more wood on the fire that is burning you?
The fair words and sweet glances
that you once described and painted
have been taken from the world; you know
that it is too late to look for them here.
Pray do not renew that which destroys you;
do not follow a false and tempting thought,
but a solid one that guides us to good:
Let us seek Heaven, if naught below can
please; because that beauty does us ill,
if both in life and death it robs us of peace.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2025 by Will Crutchfield, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2025-05-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 111