Monday, May 28, 2012

Lancashire Love

Just got back from a fantastic 4 day break in England, it started with a wonderful family wedding in the Lancashire countryside near Clitheroe. After all the fussing and worrying about what to wear (english weather) the sun couldn't of shone brighter, the location was perfect , the ceremony perfect and so proud of my husband and how beautifully he read this Petrarch poem in church, he made me cry a little...



Il Canzoniere

Benedetto sia 'l giorno, et 'l mese, et l'anno,
et la stagione, e 'l tempo, et l'ora, e 'l punto,
e 'l bel paese, e 'l loco ov'io fui giunto
da'duo begli occhi che legato m'ànno;

et benedetto il primo dolce affanno
ch'i' ebbi ad esser con Amor congiunto,
et l'arco, et le saette ond'i' fui punto,
et le piaghe che 'nfin al cor mi vanno.
Benedette le voci tante ch'io
chiamando il nome de mia donna ò sparte,
e i sospiri, et le lagrime, e 'l desio;

et benedette sian tutte le carte
ov'io fama l'acquisto, e 'l pensier mio,
ch'è sol di lei, sí ch'altra non v'à parte.
Il Canzoniere
Blest be the year, the month, the hour, the day,
The season and the time, and point of space,
And blest the beauteous country and the place
Where first of two bright eyes I felt the sway:
 
Blest the sweet pain of which I was the prey,
When newly doomed Love’s sovereign law to embrace,
And blest the bow and shaft to which I trace
The wound that to my inmost heart found way:
 
Blest be the ceaseless accents of my tongue,
Unwearied breathing my loved lady’s name,
Blest my fond wishes, sighs, and tears, and pains:
 
Blest be the lays in which her praise I sung,
That on all sides acquired to her fair fame,
And blest my thoughts! for o’er them all she reigns.