Ochi dolenti mie

Ochi dolenti mie

My grieving eyes

Ochi dolenti mie, che pur piangete,
Po che vedete
Che sol per honestà non vi contento.

Nonn à diviso la mente 'l disio
Con voi che tante lagrime versate.

Per che da voi si cela el viso pio,
Il qual privato m'a da llibertate.

Gran virtù è refrenar volontate
Per honestate,
Chè seguir donna è sofferir tormento.

My grieving eyes, ever weeping,
since you see
that for modesty's sake I will not satisfy you.

My mind desires exactly the same
as you, who weep so many tears.

Because that lovely face, which has
deprived me of my liberty,
is concealed from you.

It is most valorous to curb one's desire
for the sake of modesty,
since to court a lady is to suffer torment.

(Lyrics taken from the critical edition of Landini's works, The works of Francesco Landini, ed. by Leonard Ellinwood, with textual collation by William A. McLaughlin (Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1945), p.130.)

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