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FRANCESCO
PETRARCH
Bowing one’s knees to God,
brings much benefit,
The knees and the mind
That your years preserves for
much good.
(Petrarch, 1969, 47)
Heavenly
Father, after lost days,
After many
wasted nights
With that
intense desire that burned inside my heart,
Looking at
the actions that for my harm adorn it,
May it
please you, with your light, that I may return
To another
light and to much better accomplishments,
So that in
spite of traps prepared by him,
My harsh
adversary may be ashamed.
Now ends,
my Lord the eleventh year
That I was
subjected to my cruel punishment
That is
most burdensome upon the most humble;
Have mercy
of my unworthy suffering
Remind
them how today you were on the cross.
(Neri,
118)
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