The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly. Vol. 1, April 1894

English literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals

Lady, the heart that entered through your eyes
      Returneth not. Well may he make delay,
      For if the very windows that display
  Your spirit, sparkle in such wondrous wise,
  Of her enthroned within this Paradise
      What shall be deemed? If heart for ever stay,
      Small wonder, dazzled by more radiant day
  Than gazers from without can recognise.
  Glory of sun and moon and silver star
      In firmament above, are these not sign
      Of things within more excellent by far?
  Rejoice then in thy kingdom, heart of mine,
      While Love and Fortune favourable are,
      Nor thou yet exiled for default of thine.

Although, however, Tansillo's heart might well remain with its lady,
Tansillo's person was necessitated to join the frequent maritime
expeditions of the great nobleman to whom he was attached, Don Garcia de
Toledo, against the Turks. The constant free-booting of the Turkish and
Barbary rovers kept the Mediterranean in a state of commotion comparable
to that of the Spanish Main in the succeeding age, and these
expeditions, whose picturesque history remains to be written, were no
doubt very interesting; though from a philosophical point of view it is
impossible not to sympathise with the humane and generous poet when he
inquires:--

    Che il Turco nasca turco, e 'l Moro moro,
    È giusta causa questa, ond'altri ed io
    Dobbiam incrudelir nel sangue loro?

With such feelings it may well be believed that in his enforced absence
he was thinking at least as much of love as of war, and that the
following sonnet is as truthful as it is an animated picture of his
feelings:--

                        II

  No length of banishment did e'er remove
      My heart from you, nor if by Fortune sped
      I roam the azure waters, or the Red,
  E'er with the body shall the spirit rove:
  If by each drop of every wave we clove,
      Or by Sun's light or Moon's encompassèd,
      Another Venus were engenderèd,
  And each were pregnant with another Love:
  And thus new shapes of Love where'er we went
      Started to life at every stroke of oar,
      And each were cradled in an amorous thought;
  Not more than now this spirit should adore;
      That none the less doth constantly lament
      It cannot worship as it would and ought.

Before long, however, the pangs of separation overcome this elation of
spirit, while he is not yet afraid of being forgotten:--

                        III

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

General

The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly. Vol. 1, April 1894

English literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals

Lady, the heart that entered through your eyes
      Returneth not. Well may he make delay,
      For if the very windows that display
  Your spirit, sparkle in such wondrous wise,
  Of her enthroned within this Paradise
      What shall be deemed? If heart for ever stay,
      Small wonder, dazzled by more radiant day
  Than gazers from without can recognise.
  Glory of sun and moon and silver star
      In firmament above, are these not sign
      Of things within more excellent by far?
  Rejoice then in thy kingdom, heart of mine,
      While Love and Fortune favourable are,
      Nor thou yet exiled for default of thine.

Although, however, Tansillo's heart might well remain with its lady,
Tansillo's person was necessitated to join the frequent maritime
expeditions of the great nobleman to whom he was attached, Don Garcia de
Toledo, against the Turks. The constant free-booting of the Turkish and
Barbary rovers kept the Mediterranean in a state of commotion comparable
to that of the Spanish Main in the succeeding age, and these
expeditions, whose picturesque history remains to be written, were no
doubt very interesting; though from a philosophical point of view it is
impossible not to sympathise with the humane and generous poet when he
inquires:--

    Che il Turco nasca turco, e 'l Moro moro,
    È giusta causa questa, ond'altri ed io
    Dobbiam incrudelir nel sangue loro?

With such feelings it may well be believed that in his enforced absence
he was thinking at least as much of love as of war, and that the
following sonnet is as truthful as it is an animated picture of his
feelings:--

                        II

  No length of banishment did e'er remove
      My heart from you, nor if by Fortune sped
      I roam the azure waters, or the Red,
  E'er with the body shall the spirit rove:
  If by each drop of every wave we clove,
      Or by Sun's light or Moon's encompassèd,
      Another Venus were engenderèd,
  And each were pregnant with another Love:
  And thus new shapes of Love where'er we went
      Started to life at every stroke of oar,
      And each were cradled in an amorous thought;
  Not more than now this spirit should adore;
      That none the less doth constantly lament
      It cannot worship as it would and ought.

Before long, however, the pangs of separation overcome this elation of
spirit, while he is not yet afraid of being forgotten:--

                        III

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly. Vol. 1, April 1894

The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly. Vol. 1, April 1894

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