Daily Poem: Poem 92~Gaspara Stampa
Poem 92
~Gaspara Stampa
As when a mountain oak, struck and beaten
From every side by fierce, contrary winds
(One being stronger now, and then the other),
Thousands of times seems on the point of falling,
Just so my life, my weak and fragile powers
—Beaten by hope at times, at times by fear,
When my two shining lights are far away—
Can’t tell which is the better way to lean.
Sometimes my lover’s letters reassure me,
Then other people’s words make me despair.
He says, “I come,” the others, “He’s not coming.”
May Death, more than her wont, take pity on me
And kindly lift me out of such great pain,
Unless I see my sun before too long.
