|
(An answer to Franco's preceding poem, written in the
same rhymes.) Reason and love are contrary to each other, and whoever expects to predict love's course is bereft of wit and deprived of reason. So there is all the more cause to value your declaration, in which you've resolved to hold virtue in highest esteem, and though, in truth, I lack that quality, my desire to possess it, with you, is strong enough that I expect a reward for my good will: and, if fear of my true self assails me, it makes me hope, too, in spite of my few merits, that it may be a blessing to choose a lesser evil. I do not claim that I could attain, by winning your love, sufficient virtue to rise to such a lofty goal, but I do know that a gallant soul, finding a man who hates lies and follows truth, makes her way toward him with delight: and all the more if in a heart that's sincere she finds affection, full of truest faith, as in mine, which I hope to show you one day, if powerlessness does not rein in my desires..... [ll. 1-22; pp. 87] |
 If you have any suggestions or questions regarding these poems please email me |