Madrigale III.

A poem by Francesco Petrarca

Nova angeletta sovra l' ale accorta.

HE ALLEGORICALLY DESCRIBES THE ORIGIN OF HIS PASSION.


From heaven an angel upon radiant wings,
New lighted on that shore so fresh and fair,
To which, so doom'd, my faithful footstep clings:
Alone and friendless, when she found me there,
Of gold and silk a finely-woven net,
Where lay my path, 'mid seeming flowers she set:
Thus was I caught, and, for such sweet light shone
From out her eyes, I soon forgot to moan.

MACGREGOR.