Sonnet XXI
[Pg 25]
SONNET XXI.
Amor piangeva, ed io con lui talvolta.
HE CONGRATULATES BOCCACCIO ON HIS RETURN TO THE RIGHT PATH.
Love grieved, and I with him at times, to seeBy what strange practices and cunning art,You still continued from his fetters free,From whom my feet were never far apart.Since to the right way brought by God's decree,Lifting my hands to heaven with pious heart,I thank Him for his love and grace, for HeThe soul-prayer of the just will never thwart:And if, returning to the amorous strife,Its fair desire to teach us to deny,Hollows and hillocks in thy path abound,'Tis but to prove to us with thorns how rifeThe narrow way, the ascent how hard and high,Where with true virtue man at last is crown'd.