The dragon's lair

A personal collection of verse

Cecco Angiolieri


I’ve mortgaged merriment for such a sum
That how I’ll pay it off I just can’t see;
The value of all Pisa wouldn’t come
To the amount that now is asked of me.
Indeed, I’m so determined to be glum
They’d have to grind my bones before a grin
Defaced my facial muscles that are numb,
And that’s the kind of broken state I’m in.
The other day, deep in a dream, I came
Close to an act that might have been some fun:
I woke (of course!) to a great sense of shame.
And so I mutter to myself: “I vow,
If God allowed, I would kill anyone
Who’s reading this and laughing at me now.”

Cecco Angiolieri


I’ve mortgaged merriment for such a sum
That how I’ll pay it off I just can’t see;
The value of all Pisa wouldn’t come
To the amount that now is asked of me.
Indeed, I’m so determined to be glum
They’d have to grind my bones before a grin
Defaced my facial muscles that are numb,
And that’s the kind of broken state I’m in.
The other day, deep in a dream, I came
Close to an act that might have been some fun:
I woke (of course!) to a great sense of shame.
And so I mutter to myself: “I vow,
If God allowed, I would kill anyone
Who’s reading this and laughing at me now.”