| How welcome to my eyes this shady hill | Ombroso colle, amene e verdi piante |
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How welcome to my eyes this shady hill, lovely gay plants, blest shores and green valleys, these fresh and crystal clear rushing waters, where, when I was sad, I found comfort. Secret sacred woods, inviolable, dark thickets, solitary paths, fragant flowers plum-colored, white, yellow, overarching trees -- parasols reaching to paradise. Spirits, to you I've cried, told of harsh demands often imposed on me, but I come here now to speak of what contents me: after long troubles and desperate sorrows this warm sunlight, this place I thought never to see again. |
Ombroso colle, amene e verdi piante Liete piaggie profonde e grate valli, Correnti freschi, e lucidi christalli Conforto spesso a le mei pene tante; Segrete selve reverende e sante, Folti boschetti, e solitari calli, Soavi fiori persi, bianchi, e gialli Oppressi da celesti e sacre piante; A voi, piangendo gią miei duri stenti Narrai pił volte, or a voi tutti insieme Voglio parte scoprir de' miei contenti: Dopo lunghe fatiche, e doglie estreme Vidi del mio bel sole i raggi ardenti Quando di veder lor manch'ebbi speme. |
I decided to begin my ordering of Gambara's poetry with her landscape poems as they embody her highest literary and civic ideals and she makes careful use of her learning. These have been thought her most accomplished; they are characteristic of her as she wanted to be seen publicly. I am aware that an argument could be made for beginning the sequence with the love poetry, but despite the centrality of these erotic poems to her urge to write, I hesitate to frame the poetry with them, as such a framing would, I think, distort our understanding of Gambara and therefore of her poetry.