I Have as My Mistress..., Poem by Pierre De Ronsard

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

I have as my mistress a strange Gorgon,
Who surpasses the angels in beauty,
She is a true Mars in harsh cruelty,
In chastity, the daughter of Latona.

When I see her, a thousand times I am amazed,
With a tear in my eye, either that my firmness
Does not soften her, or that her hardness
Does not lead me where one never returns.

From nature I did not receive a heart,
But rather to nourish itself in fire
In its place I have a Salamander,

For if I had a human heart of flesh,
Long ago it would have been reduced to ash,
Given the blaze in which it always burns plainly.

Pierre de Ronsard

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