Text & Translation
Sonetto XXXII
Italian source:
Michelangelo Buonarotti
S’una fortuna infra dua amanti equale,
S’un’aspra sorte all’un dell’altro cale,
S’un spirto, s’un voler duo cor governa;
S’un’anima in duo corpi è fatta etterna,
Ambo levando al cielo e con pari ale;
S’amor c’un colpo e d’un dorato strale
Le viscer di duo petti arda e discerna;
S’amar l’un l’altro, e nessun se medesmo,
D’un gusto e d’un diletto, a tal mercede,
C’a un fin voglia l’uno e l’altro porre;
Se mille e mille non sarien centesmo
A tal nodo d’amore, a tanta fede;
E sol l’isdegno il può rompere e sciorre.
Sonnet XXXII
English translation ©
Elizabeth Mayer & Peter Pears
if in two bodies one soul is made eternal, raising both to heaven on the same wings; if at one stroke and with a gilded arrow love burns and pierces two hearts to the core;
if in loving one another, forgetting one’s self, with one pleasure and one delight there is such reward that both wills strive for the same end;
if thousands and thousands do not make one hundredth part to such a bond of love, to such constancy, can, then, mere anger break and dissolve it?
Sonetto XXXII
Italian source:
Michelangelo Buonarotti
Sonnet XXXII
English source:
Elizabeth Mayer & Peter Pears
S’un casto amor, s’una pietà superna,
If love be chaste, if pity heavenly, if fortune equal between two lovers; if a bitter fate is shared by both, and if one spirit, one will rules two hearts;
S’una fortuna infra dua amanti equale,
S’un’aspra sorte all’un dell’altro cale,
S’un spirto, s’un voler duo cor governa;
S’un’anima in duo corpi è fatta etterna,
Ambo levando al cielo e con pari ale;
S’amor c’un colpo e d’un dorato strale
Le viscer di duo petti arda e discerna;
S’amar l’un l’altro, e nessun se medesmo,
D’un gusto e d’un diletto, a tal mercede,
C’a un fin voglia l’uno e l’altro porre;
Se mille e mille non sarien centesmo
A tal nodo d’amore, a tanta fede;
E sol l’isdegno il può rompere e sciorre.
Composer
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music,…
Poet
Michelangelo Buonarotti
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, better known simply as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet.