C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
To the Princess Leonora Written Soon After the Poets Arrival at Ferrara
By Torquato Tasso (15441595)
Translation of Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen
L
Firm, rigorous, strict, and strong;
I am not sorrowful for this,
But why I quarrel with him is,
He quite ties up my tongue.
I can on no pretense;
But timid and confused stand mute,
Or, wandering in my reason, suit
My speech but ill with sense.
Thou’lt not give up one part
Of thy great power, respect my grief,
Take off this chain in kind relief,
And add it to my heart!