Lyrics of Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22 - Sonetto XXXII - Peter Pears, Бенджамин Бриттен

Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22 - Sonetto XXXII (original)

S’un casto amor, s’una pietà superna
S’una fortuna infra dua amanti equale
S’un’aspra sorte all’un dell’altro cale
S’un spirto, s’un voler duo cor governa;
S’un’anima in duo corpi è fatta etterna
Ambo levando al cielo e con pari ale;
S’amor c’un colpo e d’un dorato strale
Le viscer di duo petti arda e discerna;
S’amar l’un l’altro, e nessun se medesmo
D’un gusto e d’un diletto, a tal mercede
C’a un fin voglia l’uno e l’altro porre;
Se mille e mille non sarien centesmo
A tal nodo d’amore, a tanta fede;
E sol l’isdegno il può rompere e sciorre

(translation)

Yes a chaste love, yes a supernal piety
It is a fortune between two equal lovers
There is a bitter fate to each other in the coves
Yes a spirit, yes a wanting duo cor governs;
A soul in two bodies is made eternal
Both raising to the sky and with equal wings;
For love there is a shot and a golden arrow
The viscer of two breasts burns and discerns;
Love each other, and no self
Of a taste and a delight, for such a reward
There is a finality both of which may pose;
If a thousand and a thousand will not be a hundredth
To this knot of love, to so much faith;
And only the jurisdiction can break and flow