Venice masks

Tuesday 30 June 2020

Love and Lapo - Guido Cavalcanti

If you, my Dante (this I pray
  You much), see Love with Lapo near,
  Take heed, and then if Love you hear
  Call Lapo lover, write and say;—
And tell me, if his lady’s sway
  Seem kind, and he in guise appear
  Of gallant, since such folk, I fear,
  When tired of work, at loving play!
You know, when in his court Love reigns
  No one can serve, but he who’s true,
  A lady who is wandering there;—
And if his patience favour gains,
  The marks of that are known to you,
  Your style, and mine, the emblems bear.

Guido Cavalcanti (1255–1300)
Translated by Warburton Pike
Source: The Sonnets of Europe, ed. by Samuel Waddington. Walter Scott, 1888

Lapo is Lapo Gianni, a contemporary poet to Dante and Cavalcanti; Lapo's "Love" was Lady Lagia. She figures in several poems written by this trio of poets.

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