Strike Me Down with Grace, Poem by Pierre De Ronsard

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

Strike me down with grace as you did Capaneus,
O father Jupiter, and with your cruel fire
Extinguish the other fire that Love continually
Always kindles in my heart with a stubborn flame.

And is it not better that a single day
Suddenly strip me of my mortal burden,
Than to suffer always in my soul a torment such
As the most damned soul suffers not in hell?

Or if you do not wish, father, to strike me down,
Give me the despair that leads me to drown,
Hurling me from the summit of a lonely rock,

Since otherwise by care, by sorrow and by labor,
By grief, by toil, I cannot rid myself
Of love, which in spite of me holds fast within my heart.

Pierre de Ronsard

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

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-strike-me-down-with-grace-pierre-de-ronsard/