Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
Language: English
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace;
But now my gracious numbers are decay'd,
And my sick Muse doth give an other place.
I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument
Deserves the travail of a worthier pen;
Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent
He robs thee of, and pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word
From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give,
And found it in thy cheek: he can afford
No praise to thee, but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay.
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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):
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
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This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 117
Fino a quando io solo ho invocato il tuo...
Language: Italian (Italiano) after the English
Fino a quando io solo ho invocato il tuo aiuto,
tutta la tua gentile grazia abitava il mio verso;
ma ora i miei metri aggraziati sono decaduti,
e la mia Musa malata abita un posto diverso.
Ammetto, dolce amore, che il tema della tua bellezza
merita la fatica di una più degna penna;
ma ciò che di te un altro poeta apprezza
prima te lo ruba e poi te lo ridona.
Ti presta la virtù, parola che ha saputo rubare
dal tuo comportamento; ti dona la bellezza
che nel tuo volto già alberga: e non può osare
lodarti che per qualcosa che già in te si apprezza.
Allora non ringraziarlo per ciò che di te va dicendo
poiché ciò che ti deve, sei tu che lo stai già pagando.
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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: 2025-07-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 129
