| FRANCIS SEAL OF LOVE By Vittoria Colonna Translated by Ted Witham Jesus presses wax to the living flesh Blazes wounds, seals in love, Lover’s heat. Marks on Francis a true image, so fresh with love, Francis celebrates: replete. When he gripped you and gave to you his fire, and virtue itself, all of you was made whole. Now among us as his bride inspire Time and place to prepare the soul. Poverty, humble life and every friend Raise grace to the most sublime state, From this life to the next all praise extend: You loved him on earth, now in heaven ask, Blessed Spirit, that you may regenerate Your thoughts, desires, your holy task. (Original) Francesco, in cui sì come in umil cera Con sigillo d’amor sì vive impresse Le sue piaghe Iesù, che sol t’elesse A mostrarne di sé l’imagin vera, Quanto ti strinse ed a te quanto intera Die’ la sua forma e le virtuti istesse, Onde fra noi per la sua sposa cresse Il tempio e ‘l seggio e l’alma insegna altera. Povertade, umil vita e l’altre tante Grazie l’alzaro al più sublime stato, Quanto or per suoi contrari è bassa e vile; L’amasti in terra, or prega in ciel, beato Spirto, ch’ella ritorni omai pura gentile Ai pensieri, ai desiri, a l’opre sante. About the Author: Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547) was an Italian noblewoman, the best-known female intellectual of her time. Her poems are stylistically and linguistically ambitious; her favourite form was the Petrarchan sonnet. The sensuous imagery of her early poems carries over to her later ‘spiritual’ sonnets. Her poems are in the public domain. About the Translator:  Ted Witham is an Anglican Tertiary of St Francis. He writes poems and short stories and has published in the Eureka Street Journal and Studio in Australia, and in Lacuna: Journal of Historical Fiction in the US. He lives in the beautiful south-west corner of Australia with his wife Rae and Jack Russell terrier Lottie. |