Death & Dying
Vita Nuova: 'Stay now with me, and listen to my sighs'
Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1861; text of the Ellis and Elvey edition, 1899) · From La Vita Nuova
Stay now with me, and listen to my sighs,
Ye piteous hearts, as pity bids ye do.
Mark how they force their way out and press through;
If they be once pent up, the whole life dies.
Seeing that now indeed my weary eyes
Oftener refuse than I can tell to you
(Even though my endless grief is ever new),
To weep and let the smothered anguish rise.
Also in sighing ye shall hear me call
On her whose blessèd presence doth enrich
The only home that well befitteth her:
And ye shall hear a bitter scorn of all
Sent from the inmost of my spirit in speech
That mourns its joy and its joy’s minister.
Cite this poem
MLA
Dante Alighieri. “Vita Nuova: 'Stay now with me, and listen to my sighs'.” Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/dante/21/.
Chicago
Dante Alighieri. “Vita Nuova: 'Stay now with me, and listen to my sighs'.” Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/dante/21/.
Read this poem with the Codex →