| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | Translations | From the Italian.
Seven Sonnets and a Canzone.
III. Youth and Age |
| | | OH give me back the days when loose and free | |
| To my blind passion were the curb and rein, | |
| Oh give me back the angelic face again, | |
| With which all virtue buried seems to be! | |
| Oh give my panting footsteps back to me, | 5 |
| That are in age so slow and fraught with pain, | |
| And fire and moisture in the heart and brain, | |
| If thou wouldst have me burn and weep for thee! | |
| If it be true thou livest alone, Amor, | |
| On the sweet-bitter tears of human hearts, | 10 |
| In an old man thou canst not wake desire; | |
| Souls that have almost reached the other shore | |
| Of a diviner love should feel the darts, | |
| And be as tinder to a holier fire. | | | | |
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