Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Po (Eridanus), the River | | To the River Po, on Quitting Laura | | Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) |
| | Translated by John Nott
THOU, Po, to distant realms this frame mayst bear, | |
| On thy all-powerful, thy impetuous tide; | |
| But the free spirit that within doth bide | |
| Nor for thy might nor any might doth care: | |
| Not varying here its course, nor shifting there, | 5 |
| Upon the favoring gale it joys to glide; | |
| Plying its wings toward the laurel’s pride, | |
| In spite of sails or oars, of sea or air. | |
| Monarch of floods, magnificent and strong, | |
| That meet’st the sun as he leads on the day, | 10 |
| But in the west dost quit a fairer light; | |
| Thy curvéd course this body wafts along; | |
| My spirit on love’s pinions speeds its way, | |
| And to its darling home directs its flight! | | | | |
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