From “Vita Nuova” [To every captive soul and gentle heart]
translated from the Italian by Joseph Luzzi
To every captive soul and gentle heart,
I now address these words of mine to you
In hope you will return with a reply,
As I salute our lord, the god of Love.
A third of night already had eclipsed
The shining of the brightest stars on high,
When suddenly Love came before my eyes—
The thought of him still haunts my troubled mind.
He held my heart in hand and seemed all joy,
My sleeping lady wrapped inside his arms.
Then he awakened her and she, in fright,
Began to humbly eat my burning heart.
And then I saw him disappear in tears.
Reprinted from Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri, translated by Joseph Luzzi. Copyright © 2024 by Joseph Luzzi. Used with permission of the publisher, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dante Alighieri
The author of La Commedia [The Divine Comedy], considered a masterwork of world literature, Dante Alighieri was born Durante Alighieri in Florence, Italy in 1265 to a notable family of modest means. His mother died when he was seven years old, and his father remarried, having two more children.