‘Dicesette anni à già rivolto il cielo'

The heavens have revolved for seventeen years
since I first burned, and I am never quenched:
but when I think again about my state,
I feel a chill in the midst of flame.
The proverb is true, that our hair changes
before our vices, and though the senses slow
the human passions have no less intensity:
making a dark shadow to our heavy veil.
Alas, ah me, when will that day be,
when, gazing at the flight of my years,
I issue from the fire, and such long suffering?
Will the day come, ever, that only as I wish
the sweet air that adorns her lovely face
might please these eyes, and only as is fitting?

Translated by: A. S. Kline