 | Poetical remains (1872) |  |
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Translations.
Italian Sonnets of Milton
III.
[As duly, when chill evening darkens round]
As duly, when chill evening darkens round,O'er the wild uplands the young shepherd fair
Fond hies, some beauteous plant to foster there,
Some stranger plant, that, ill, with blossoms crown'd,
Pines for it's native suns and mother-ground.
So on my tongue fond Love, with fostering care,
Wakes the strange flow'rs of many a Tuscan air,
While thee, O nobly graceful, I resound
In lays of words to British ears unknown,
And change fair Thamis for fair Arno's plain.
Love will'd it so, and well my strains have shewn,
Tun'd to new laws, that Love wills not in vain.
Ah! could this breast be cold, this heart be slow,
To him who plants the joys of heav'n below.
IV.
[Charles, I will tell, though wondering while I speak]
Charles, I will tell, though wondering while I speak,How I, who Love rebellious wont to scorn,
And mock his bonds as but by cowards worn,
Am caught, where wiser have been caught as weak.
Yet not or tress of gold, or vermeil cheek,
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My wondrous maid, to bless the lover born;
A decent state, a brow whence mildly break
The beams serene of amiable black,
A speech with not one language only grac'd,
A song, whose magic from her airy track
Might sweetly force the labouring moon to haste,
And eyes, whose glances such keen light'ning dart,
In vain our ears we seal to guard the heart.
V.
[A simple youth, a lover little tried]
A simple youth, a lover little triedIn lover's arts, irresolute to fly,
His heart, O Lady, brings thee: nor deny,
As light, the gift. This heart shall still abide,
True, constant, firm, with presence still supplied,
Generous of sentiment, and good: from high
When roars the vast, and lightnings fire the sky,
In adamant self-arm'd on every side:
As safe from envy, and each hope, each fear
Of vulgar souls, and far o'er Fortune plac'd,
So with the muse, and lyre of sacred sound
With genius and with worth superior grac'd;
One part alone there weaker will appear,
Where Love infix'd th'immedicable wound.
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