Canzoniere 168

Love, my old confidant, between us two
sends sweet-talk, comforts me, then will declare
that I have never been so close to where
my hopes and yearnings could be coming true.

I, who have found his word sometimes untrue
and sometimes not, debate if I should dare
to trust him, and I live between this pair:
in my heart neither “yes” nor “no” will do.

Meanwhile, time flies, and in the glass I see
my image heading toward a hostile stage
despite my hope and his avowed support.

Now come what may, it is not only me
who grows old, and my yearning stays with age,
although I fear the rest of life is short.

Translated by A. M. Juster

Excerpted from Canzoniere: A New Translation. Copyright (c) 2026 by A. M. Juster. Used with permission of the publisher, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.