by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
Translation by John Addington Symonds (1840 - 1893)
Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai
Language: Italian (Italiano)
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.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 K. Sorabji: "vengo"
2 K. Sorabji: "gran"
3 K. Sorabji: "saper"
Authorship
- by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 60 [author's text not yet checked 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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sonetto LV", op. 22 no. 4, from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, no. 4, also set in Russian (Русский) [ sung text checked 1 time]
- by Kaikhosru Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai", KSS 36 no. 1 (1923), published 2005, first performed 1980 [ voice and orchestra ], from Cinque sonetti di Michelagniolo Buonarroti, no. 1, Bath: The Sorabji Archive, critical edition [ sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Carl Johengen) , "Sonnet LV", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John Addington Symonds) , "Love's entreaty", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "You know that I know, my lord, that you know", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet LV", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2019-06-20 21:10:34
Line count: 14
Word count: 111
Love's entreaty
Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)
Thou knowest, love, I know that thou dost know
That I am here more near to thee to be,
And knowest that I know thou knowest me:
What means it then that we are sundered so?
If they are true, these hopes that from thee flow,
If it is real, this sweet expectancy,
Break down the wall that stands 'twixt me and thee;
For pain in prison pent hath double woe.
Because in thee I love, O my loved lord,
What thou best lovest, be not therefore stern:
Souls burn for souls, spirits to spirits cry!
I seek the splendour in thy fair face stored;
Yet living man that beauty scarce can learn,
And he who fain would find it, first must die.
Authorship
- by John Addington Symonds (1840 - 1893), "Love's entreaty", appears in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella now for the first time translated into rhymed English, first published 1878 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), appears in Rime, no. 60
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text added to the website: 2008-08-12 00:00:00
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:50
Line count: 14
Word count: 123