Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Ferrara | | To Scipio Gonzaga | | Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) |
| | Translated by Richard Henry Wilde
SURE Pity, Scipio, on earth has fled | |
| From royal breasts to seek abode in heaven; | |
| For if she were not banished, scorned, or dead, | |
| Would not some ear to my complaints be given? | |
| Is noble faith at pleasure to be riven, | 5 |
| Though freely pledged that I had naught to dread, | |
| And I by endless outrage to be driven | |
| To worse than death,—the deathlike life I ’ve led? | |
| For this is of the quick a grave; and here | |
| Am I, a living, breathing corpse interred, | 10 |
| To go not forth, till prisoned in my bier; | |
| O earth! O heaven! if love and truth are heard, | |
| Or honor, fame, and virtue worth a tear, | |
| Let not my prayers be fruitless or deferred! | | | | |
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