Death & Dying

Epitaphs Translated from Chiabrera V

by William Wordsworth 1770–1850

Translated by William Wordsworth (1837) · From Poetical Works, ed. Knight (1896), vol. IV

Death & Dying

True is it that Ambrosio Salinero
With an untoward fate was long involved
In odious litigation; and full long,
Fate harder still! had he to endure assaults
Of racking malady. And true it is
That not the less a frank courageous heart
And buoyant spirit triumphed over pain;
And he was strong to follow in the steps
Of the fair Muses. Not a covert path
Leads to the dear Parnassian forest's shade,
That might from him be hidden; not a track
Mounts to pellucid Hippocrene, but he
Had traced its windings.--This Savona knows,
Yet no sepulchral honours to her Son
She paid, for in our age the heart is ruled
Only by gold. And now a simple stone
Inscribed with this memorial here is raised
By his bereft, his lonely, Chiabrera.
Think not, O Passenger! who read'st the lines
That an exceeding love hath dazzled me;
No--he was One whose memory ought to spread
Where'er Permessus bears an honoured name,
And live as long as its pure stream shall flow.

✦ ✦ ✦

Translated from the Italian of Chiabrera; published 1837.

MLA

Wordsworth, William. “Epitaphs Translated from Chiabrera V.” Translated by William Wordsworth. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/247/.

Chicago

Wordsworth, William. “Epitaphs Translated from Chiabrera V.” Translated by William Wordsworth. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/247/.

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