Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FIAMMETT: SONNET. OF FIAMMETTA SINGING by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

First Line: LOVE STEERED MY COURSE, WHILE YET THE SUN RODE HIGH
Last Line: SINGING I SAW, WITH OTHERS WHO SAT ROUND.
Subject(s): LOVE;

Love steered my course, while yet the sun rode high,
On Scylla's waters to a myrtle grove:
The heaven was still and the sea did not move;
Yet now and then a little breeze went by
Stirring the tops of trees against the sky:
And then I heard a song as glad as love,
So sweet that never yet the like thereof
Was heard in any mortal company.
"A nymph, a goddess, or an angel sings
Unto herself, within this chosen place,
Of ancient loves"; so said I at that sound.
And there my lady, 'mid the shadowings
Of myrtle trees, 'mid flowers and grassy space,
Singing I saw, with others who sat round.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net