Boiardo Tarocchi Poem: Chapter 3 - Speranza

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[edit] Italian original: De Speranza

CAPITULO TERZO DE SPERANZA (Coperchiati)

SPERANZA unita tien co `l corpo un'alma

Talor, che senza lei non staria in vita,

Poi spesso giunge a victoriosa palma.

SPERANZA dubio alcun non ha smarrita,

Ma sta ferma e constante in fino al fine,

Quando Ragione il suo sperare aita.

SPERANZA terminata in un confine,

Se vol passar piu in là che non convene,

Prima che coglia el fior, trova le spine.

SPERANZA quanto piu con rason vene,

Piu dolce cibo è al cor che se ne veste;

E se al contrario vien, porta piu pene.

SPERANZA, ce mantiene in giochi e in feste

Quando il poter col voler si misura;

Ma senza ordine, ha in sé cose moleste.

SPERANZA, sei pure amica a natura!

Tu tieni i toi seguaci in tanta pace,

Che alcun patir non li par cosa dura.

SPERANZA, se tu se' ancor contumace

A chi possede il suo, dubio li poni

Tal che dir l' è mio, non serà audace.

SPERANZA obtener fa senz'altri doni

Quel che a l'animo aggrada, e par che l'abbia

Quel che vôl già, né alcun piu se gli opponi.

SPERANZA non consente un, preso in gabbia,

Dolente star, quando seco dimora,

Né un ropto in mar, si ben è in seca sabbia.

SPERANZA desta il pover che lavora,

A zappar, a spianar un monte, un lago,

Che fructo spera a le fatighe ancora.

SPERANZA Orazio fece un leo, un drago

A far tagliar el ponte, e andar a basso

De la salute de la patria vago.

SPERANZA Jason, d'animo non lasso,

Con gli Argonauti a l'aureo velo adduxe,

Per molti casi e in periglioso passo.

SPERANZA fu che Judithe conduxe

Fuor di Betulia a ire Oloferne a fine,

Che altro che un gran sperar par che non fusse.

SPERANZA Enea fuor del Trojan confine

Guido in Italia; e i successor fondorno

Alba e poi Roma a le genti Latine.

Che domitor del mondo un tempo forno.

[edit] English Translation: Hope

THIRD CHAPTER ABOUT HOPE (Vases with cover)

HOPE sometimes keeps a body joint with

A soul, that would not live without it,

And in the end it always reaches the palm of victory.

HOPE has never been defeated by any doubt,

But it is solid and constant to the end,

When Reason arrives to help hope.

HOPE when is limited to a boundary,

If it wants to move further than should be done,

Founds thorns before it reaches the flower.

HOPE when it comes together with reason

Is the sweetest food for the heart that wears it;

If it comes in another way, it brings more suffering.

HOPE keeps us in games and festivity

When power is fighting against will;

But, without order, it contains bad things.

HOPE, you are a friend of nature!

You keep your followers in such peace,

That any suffering does not seem to be hard.

HOPE, if you are not there

When someone has his own, you put such doubts

That he will not dare to say it is mine.

HOPE gives by itself to the soul

That which the soul desires, and it seems

It already has it, and it finds no resitance.

HOPE does not allow to be sad to someone

who is caught in a cage, when it is with him,

Nor to a shipwrecked, even if he is on dry sand.

HOPE wakes up the poor man who works

Digging, making a mountain, or a lake, flat,

Because he hopes to receive a prize for his efforts.

HOPE transformed Horatius in a lion, a dragon

So that he had the bridge cut, and went down

Desiring the safety of his homeland.

HOPE brought Jason, of unstrained soul,

And the Argonauts to the golden fleece

Through many adventures and a dangerous travel.

HOPE led Judith

Out of Betulia, to put Oloferne to an end,

and it seemed it was nothing but a big hope.

HOPE drove Eneas out of the Trojan border

To Italy; and his successors founded

Alba and then Rome for the Latin people.

Who once were the rulers of the world.

For commentaries and discussion (which includes comments about translation problems, please see the Discussion page (or click on the 'discussion' tab above).
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