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From An Anthology of Italian Poems 13th-19th Century selected and translated by Lorna de’ Lucchi, Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1922; pp. 136-137, 354.
[For purists, the Italian text of the poems follows the English translation.]
FRANCESCO BERNI, 1498-1535
Notes and translation by Lorna de’ Lucchi
354
Biographical Note
FRANCESCO BERNI, born at Lamporecchio; secrtary to Ghiberti; 1520 settled in Florence under the protection of the Medici; lived in an atmosphere of intrigue, and died, it is thought, by poison. His poems are mainly comic or burlesque; he recast Boiardo’s epic, Orlando Innamorato, in the same spirit.
Poems
137
FRANCESCO BERNI, 1498-1535
Sonetto
THE deuce, a roast of scraggy quails, a bit
Of salted pork to cram down a dry throat;
To be dead tired and find nowhere to sit;
To have the fire near by, the wine remote;
To pay cash down but to be paid at leisure;
To be compelled to grant a profitless boon;
Not to see aught when you’ve gone out on pleasure;
To stew in January as you did in June;
To have a pebble lurking in your boot;
To feel a flea a-running round about
Your stirrup-leg, inside your sock; to know
One hand is clean and one as black as soot,
One foot is with a shoe and one without,
To be kept waiting when you’re wild to go;
Add to all this what tries you most in life,
Vexation, care, grief, every sort of strife,
You’ll find that far away the worst’s a wife.
136
FRANCESCO BERNI, 1498-1535
Sonetto
CANCHERI e beccafichi magri arrosto,
e mangiar carbonata senza bere,
essere stracco e non poter sedere;
avere il fuoco presso e il vin discosto;
riscuotere a bell’ agio e pagar tosto;
e dare ad altri per avere a avere;
essere ad una festa e non vedere;
e sudar di gennaio come d’ agosto;
avere un sassolin ’n una scarpetta
ed una pulce drento ad una calza,
che vada in giù e ’n su per istaffetta;
una mano imbrattata ed una netta,
una gamba calzata ed una scalza;
esser fatto aspettare ed aver fretta:
chi più n’ ha, più ne metta,
e conti tutti i dispetti e le doglie
chè la maggior di tutte è l’ aver moglie.
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