To Italy - Luigi Alamanni

Thanks be to God, my feet are now addressed,

Proud Italy, at least to visit thee,

After six weary years, since destiny

Forbids me in thy dear-loved lap to rest.

With weeping eyes, with look and heart depressed,

Upon my natal soil I bend the knee,

While hope and joy my troubled spirit flee,

And anguish, rage, and terror fill my breast.

I turn me, then, the snowy Alps to tread,

And seek the Gaul, more kindly prompt to greet

The child of other lands, than thou art thine:

Here, in these shady vales, mine old retreat,

I lay, in solitude, mine aching head,

Since Heaven decrees, and thou dost so incline.

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Luigi Alamanni (1495 - 1556) Italy

Translator not stated

Source: Poetry Atlas