THE PATHOS OF THE ROSE IN POETRY 353 



Le foglie a terra, allor mi venne a mente 

 Che vana cosa e il giovenil fiorire. 



Ogni arbore ha i suoi fiori : e immantinente 

 Poi le tenere frondi al sol si piegano 

 Quando rinnovellar 1' aere si sente. 



I piccol frutti ancor informi allegano ; 

 Ch' a poco a poco talor tanto ingrossano, 

 Che pel gran peso i forti rami piegano, 



Ne senza gran periglio portar possano 

 II proprio peso ; appena regger sogliono 

 Crescendo, ad or ad ora se 1' addossono. 



Vien poi I' autunno, e maturi si cogliono 

 I dolci pomi : e passato il bel tempo, 

 Di nor di frutti e fronde al fin si spogliono. 



Cogli la rosa, o ninfa, or ch' e il bel tempo. 



I will give my own English version of this piece : 



Into a little close of mine I went 



One morning, when the sun with his fresh light 



Was rising all refulgent and unshent. 

 Hose-trees are planted there in order bright, 



Whereto I turned charmed eyes, and long did stay, 



Taking my fill of that new-found delight. 

 Eed and white roses bloomed upon the spray ; 



One opened, leaf by leaf, to greet the morn, 



Shyly at first, then in sweet disarray ; 

 Another, yet a youngling, newly born, 



Scarce struggled from the bud, and there were some 

 Whose petals closed them from the air forlorn ; 

 Another fell, and showered the grass with bloom ; 



Thus I beheld the roses dawn and die, 



And one short hour their loveliness consume. 

 But while I watched those languid petals lie 



Colourless on cold earth, I could but think 



How vain a thing is youthful bravery. 

 Trees have their time to bloom on winter's brink ; 



Then the rathe blossoms wither in an hour, 



When the brief days of spring toward summer sink : 

 The fruit, as yet unformed, is tart and sour ; 



Little by little it grows large, and weighs 



The strong boughs down with slow persistent power 

 Nor without peril can the branches raise 



Their burden ; now they stagger 'neath the weight 



Still growing, and are bent above the ways ; 



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