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

What's in the brain, that ink may...
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
What's in the brain, that ink may character,
Which hath not figur'd to thee my true spirit?
What's new to speak, what now to register,
That may express my love, or thy dear merit?
Nothing, sweet boy; but yet, like prayers divine,
I must each day say o'er the very same;
Counting no old thing old, thou mine, I thine,
Even as when first I hallow'd thy fair name.
So that eternal love in love's fresh case,
Weighs not the dust and injury of age,
Nor gives to necessary wrinkles place,
But makes antiquity for aye his page;
    Finding the first conceit of love there bred,
    Where time and outward form would show it dead. 

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 108 [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 CVIII", 1865 [ medium voice or high 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. 108, 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: 115

Cos’altra cosa c’è nel cervello che...
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Cos’altra cosa c’è nel cervello che inchiostro possa scrivere
che di te l’animo mio fedele non abbia già raffigurato?
Cosa ancora  da dire, cosa da registrare,
per raccontare il mio amore o il tuo prezioso merito?
Nulla, dolce ragazzo; e tuttavia, come in un rito divino,
devo ripetere ogni giorno le stesse parole:
Stimando non vecchio un vecchio dire: che ci apparteniamo
come la prima volta che ho venerato il tuo nome.
Così che sull'amore eterno che  fresco si rinnova,
non pesano né la polvere né le ferite dell'età,
né viene data importanza a ogni necessaria ruga,
degradandola sempre a serva della vetustà;
Facendo sì che  quel primo impulso d’amore sia rafforzato
là dove  il tempo e la forma esteriore lo avrebbero negato.

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. 108
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 123

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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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