The dragon's lair

A personal collection of verse

Cecco Angiolieri


My mind has been accustomed to repose,
Indeed to trouble I am very new:
Is grief the guerdon Love provides? God knows
I’ve come to think no other plight is true.
So heavy has the burden of my woes
Grown since I first accepted Love as master,
That everything I do or I propose
To please my lady turns to my disaster.
I’ve surely served her now with all my might;
And if she deigned to give me some injunction,
A finger raised would serve as indication.
I’d go and take a leap from any height,
Proclaiming her command without compunction;
And if I died, I’d think it my salvation.

translated by: C.H. Scott and Anthony Mortimer

Cecco Angiolieri


My mind has been accustomed to repose,
Indeed to trouble I am very new:
Is grief the guerdon Love provides? God knows
I’ve come to think no other plight is true.
So heavy has the burden of my woes
Grown since I first accepted Love as master,
That everything I do or I propose
To please my lady turns to my disaster.
I’ve surely served her now with all my might;
And if she deigned to give me some injunction,
A finger raised would serve as indication.
I’d go and take a leap from any height,
Proclaiming her command without compunction;
And if I died, I’d think it my salvation.

translated by: C.H. Scott and Anthony Mortimer