Love, You Seem Like the Scorpion That Stings

Poem by Pierre De Ronsard Collection The MélangesThemes LovePeriod 16th century

Love, you seem like the scorpion that stings
With its tail, and you with your dart:
From both alike the sting is deadly,
Which creeps to the heart, and yet does not appear.

Without suffering pain you lead me to the point
Of harsh death, and yet I do not see by what
Wound I die, nor by what marrow
Your venom has joined itself around my heart.

Those who have their foot bled in the water
Die without pain, for a new crime
Done to their king, by treacherous cunning:

I die like them, indeed, and yet I have done
Against love neither treason nor misdeed,
Unless to love too much is called a crime.

Pierre de Ronsard

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

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