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Poems

by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595)
translated by Daniel Howard

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O Darling Turtledove

__Oh darling turtledove,
__You for your partner pine,
And I lament the one that was not mine.
__Widow who lost your love,
__You from the branchlet bare,
I from the bole’s dry foot call back my fair;
__But ah, the breeze alone
Now murmurs back in answer to my moan.

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A fragment from Tasso’s “You leave,
oh swallow, only to return”

You leave, oh swallow, only to return
Year after year, back to your summer nest;
Then want of warmth in winter makes you yearn
Along the Nile’s, or Memphis’ shore to rest;
But let the weather burn or chill my breast,
Love will not fly therefrom, but therein find sojourn.

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Translator’s Note: In the view of its translator, the original Italian version of the fragment, which forms part of a sonnet, is sufficiently complete to be considered a poem in its own right

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The Woods and Streams

__The woods and streams are still,
__The ocean, blue and boundless,
__Lies waveless now and soundless;
The wanderings of the waning zephyr cease
__Within a cave of peace,
__And silent is the night
__On which the moon shines bright;
__And we ourselves keep hidden
Beneath its dim-lit beam, as love has bidden;
__Love never speaks of bliss,
Mute is its sigh, mute is its firstborn kiss.

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Original Italian

O vaga tortorella,
Tu la tua compagnia
Ed io piango colei che non fu mia.
Misera vedovella,
Tu sovra il nudo ramo,
A pié del secco tronco io la richiamo:
Ma l’aura solo e ’l vento
Risponde mormorando al mio lamento.

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Tu parti, o rondinella, e poi ritorni
Pur d’anno in anno, e fai la state il nido;
E piú tepido verno in altro lido
Cerchi sul Nilo e ’n Menfi altri soggiorni:
Ma per algenti o per estivi giorni,
Io sempre nel mio petto Amore annido.

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Tacciono i boschi e i fiumi,
E ‘l mar senza onda giace,
Ne le spelonche i venti han tregua e pace,
E ne la notte bruna
Alto silenzio fa la bianca luna:
E noi tegnamo ascose
Le dolcezze amorose:
Amor non parli o spiriti,
Sien muti i baci e muti i miei sospiri.

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Daniel Joseph Howard studied law in his native Ireland before taking his MA in philosophy at King’s College London. After working in the European Commission, he is now pursuing a PhD in Philosophy at Boston College.

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6 Responses

  1. Paul A. Freeman

    Two very moving pieces, Daniel. The first is especially affecting.

    Thanks for the reads.

    Reply
    • Daniel Howard

      Thanks Paul. I too found them deeply moving when first reading the originals in Italian.

      One interesting technique in Tasso’s ‘O vaga tortorella’ is that he uses only one verb to express the actions of both the turtledove and the man, which is a beautiful way of drawing attention to their shared emotional states.

      Reply
  3. Margaret Coats

    These are lovely little pieces, Daniel, in your English as in the Italian selections you made. Both redolent of Petrarch, or maybe of what by this time could be called the Petrarchan atmosphere. You note above that in “O vaga tortorella” Tasso twice uses one verb to apply to both man and bird. This does imply similarity of emotion, but the distinction between them is just as striking. The dove he calls a widow and speaks of her companion, but the man weeps for one who was not his. I like the way you have him address the turtledove as “darling,” implying possessive affection for the bird in all the meanings wrapped up in “vaga.” With the loss of his own beloved (of whom nothing is said), the widowed bird becomes his partner in sorrow.

    Reply
    • Daniel Howard

      Thank you for your detailed comment, Margaret. ‘Vaga’ seems to be a frequently occuring word for Tasso, perhaps owing to the different meanings it has, which you refer to. I would have translated it as ‘lovely’ for the internal rhyme, if not for the fact that I had to use the word ‘love’ later on.

      Reply

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