If Love should render me myself - Gaspara Stampa

If Love should render me myself, someday,

And, from that heartless Lord thus release me,

Which my heart fears, more than wishes, truly,

Such joy it seems to find in pain, alway,

You’ll summon up my endless faith in vain,

And my immense, immeasurable love,

Too late, your wrongs, your cruelty, will move

You to repent; to hear you I’ll not deign.

And I, who’ll sing of new-found liberty,

Once free of these harsh, savage ties that bind,

Will pass on to that future state, lightly.

And if heaven with my just prayers I find,

Perchance I’ll see you seized most cruelly,

Your life in the grip of my vengeful mind.

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Gaspara Stampa (1523 – 1554) Italy

Translated by A.S. Kline

Source: Poetry in Translation