Ben sapeva io che natural consiglio,
Amor, contra di te già mai non valse,
tanti lacciuol', tante impromesse false,
tanto provato avea 'l tuo fiero artiglio.
Ma novamente, ond'io mi meraviglio
(diròl, come persona a cui ne calse,
e che 'l notai là sopra l'acque salse,
tra la riva toscana et l'Elba et Giglio),
i' fuggia le tue mani, et per camino,
agitandom'i vènti e 'l ciel et l'onde,
m'andava sconosciuto et pellegrino:
quando ecco i tuoi ministri, i' non so donde,
per darmi a diveder ch'al suo destino
mal chi contrasta, et mal chi si nasconde.
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Love, I well know our natural defences
are never of any value against you,
you've so many snares, so many false promises,
so many grasps of your fierce claws.
But recently, what was marvellous to me
(I tell it, as someone unaware of it,
and who noted it, on those salt waters
between Elba and Giglio and the Tuscan shore),
I fled your hand, and on the passage,
driven by the wind and sky and waves,
I went unknown and as a stranger: when
behold your ministers, from who knows where,
to show me how wrong is he who hides
from destiny, and how wrong he who fights it.
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