Già fiammeggiava l'amorosa stella
per l'orïente, et l'altra che Giunone
suol far gelosa nel septentrïone,
rotava i raggi suoi lucente et bella;
levata era a filar la vecchiarella,
discinta et scalza, et desto avea 'l carbone,
et gli amanti pungea quella stagione
che per usanza a lagrimar gli appella:
quando mia speme già condutta al verde
giunse nel cor, non per l'usata via,
che 'l sonno tenea chiusa, e 'l dolor molle;
quanto cangiata, oimè, da quel di pria!
Et parea dir: Perché tuo valor perde?
Veder quest'occhi anchor non ti si tolle.
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Already Venus, the star of love, was blazing
in the east, and that other northern constellation
Callisto's Great Bear, that makes Juno jealous,
was wheeling round its bright and lovely rays:
the little old woman had risen to her spinning,
barefoot, dishevelled, and had raked the coals,
and that time had arrived for lovers
that calls them by custom to weep again:
when my hope that was already fading
entered my heart, that sleep kept closed
and grief moistened, but not by her usual way:
alas, how altered from how she used to be!
And she seemed to say: 'Why do you lose courage?
The sight of these eyes is not yet taken from you.'
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