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Madonna é disiata in sommo cielo .​.​.

from Beatrice (2019) from "La Vita Nuova" by Thomas Oboe Lee

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lyrics

Madonna è disiata in sommo cielo:
or voi di sua virtù farvi salvere.
Dico, qual vuol gentil donna parere
vada con lei, che quando va per via,
gitta nei cor villani Amore un gelo,
per che onne lor pensero agghiaccia e pere;
e qual soffrisse di starla a vedere
diverria nobil cosa, o si morria.

E quando trova alcun che degno sia
di veder lei, quei prova sue vertute,
chè li avvien, ciò che li dona, in salute,
e sì l’umilia, ch’ogni offesa oblia.
Ancor l’ha Dio per maggior grazia dato
che non pò mal finir chi l’ha parlato.

Dice di lei Amor: “Cosa mortale
come esser pò sì adorna e sì pura?”
Poi la reguarda, e fra se stesso giura
che Dio ne ‘ntenda di far cosa nova.

Color di perle ha quasi, in forma quale
convene a donna aver, non for misura:
ella è quanto de ben pò far natura;
per essemplo di lei bieltà si prova.

De li occhi suoi, come ch’ella li mova,
escono spirti d’amore inflammati,
che feron li occhi a qual che allor la guati,
e passan sì che ‘l cor ciascun retrova:
voi le vedete Amor pinto nel viso,
là ‘ve non pote alcun mirarla fìso.

My lady is desired in the highest heaven:
now I wish to inform you of her virtue.
I say: whoever of you wants to appear as a gentlewoman
should go to with her, for when she walks abroad
Love casts a chill into base hearts,
making their every thought freeze and perish;
and whoever could endure standing there and beholding her
would become noble, or would die.

And when she finds someone who would be worthy
of beholding her, that person experiences her virtue,
because what she gives him redounds to his salvation,
and humbles him so, that he forgets every offense.
Also, God has granted her the even greater favor
that whoever has spoken with her cannot be damned.

Love says to her: “How can a mortal creature
be so beautiful and yet so pure?”
Then he looks at her again, and sears to himself
that God meant to create something new in her.

Her color is nearly that of pearls, her form such
as it behooves woman to have, not immoderate:
she is the highest good that nature can make;
beauty is tested with her as the touchstone.

From her eyes, whenever she moves them,
issue flaming spirits of love
which smite the eyes of whoever looks upon her then,
and they pierce so well that each one reaches the heart:
you see Love depicted on her lips,
which no one can behold steadily.

credits

from Beatrice (2019) from "La Vita Nuova", released April 9, 2020

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Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

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