Daily Poem: Sonnet X~Louise Labé
Sonnet X
~Louise Labé
(Translated from French by Judith Thurman)
When I catch sight of your fair head
garlanded with living laurel,
making your sad lute sound so well
that you compel to rise and be your followers
rocks and trees—when I see you adorned
in virtues legion, chief in honour among men,
then does my passionate heart suppose
that by such virtue as you are beloved,
esteemed by all, so could you love,
and to such worthy virtue could you amend
the virtue of taking pity,
and the virtue of being aroused
sweetly and slowly by my love.
