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

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his fickle hour;
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self grow'st.
If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:
Her audit (though delayed) answered must be,
And her quietus is to render thee.

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Note that this "sonnet" has twelve lines.

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This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 96

Oh tu, mio bel ragazzo, che in tuo...
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Oh tu, mio bel ragazzo, che in tuo potere tieni
la clessidra del Tempo , e la falce dell’ora;
che accanto al declino sei cresciuto e proprio lì dimostri
che i tuoi amanti appassiscono mentre il tuo dolce io migliora.
Se la Natura che sovrana governa ogni rovina,
nel tuo procedere avanti, indietro ti sta tirando,
lo fa per questo, per dimostrare come la sua maestria
possa disonorare il Tempo i minuti uccidendo.
Ma temila ugualmente, anche se è ben disposta!
Può solo trattenere, ma non per sempre il suo tesoro serbare:
L’obbligo di una verifica (anche se differito), esige una risposta
e te, come  sua quietanza, dovrà infine  consegnare.

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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.
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This text was added to the website: 2025-07-16
Line count: 12
Word count: 110