Les Regrets/4

III 'Alas, where now is that contempt for fate? '

Les Regrets ~ IV written by Joachim Du Bellay translated by A. S. Kline

V. 'It’s not the Tuscan river with its proud shore,'

Les Regrets - IV. ‘Ne t’ébahis, Ronsard, la moitié de mon âme,’.

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III

"Don’t be astonished, you, who are half my heart"
 
Don’t be astonished, you, who are half my heart,
Ronsard, if France reads nothing more of me,
If, breathing the atmosphere of Italy,
Its burning ardour fails to fire my art.
 
Holy rays from your lady’s sweet eyes dart:
The holy favour that your prince showed me,
And, Ronsard, you: that alone, is worthy
And can its living fire to the soul impart.

But I, who lack the rays of my bright sun,
How can I feel the warmth as does one
Who is so close now to his flame divine?
 
The sunlit slopes here their vines disclose,
But, from the Hyperborean, eternal snows
Bring winter’s chill: and rain and sleet are mine.