The Sonnets Of Tommaso Campanella - The Sage On Earth.

Sciolto e legato.


Bound and yet free, companioned and alone,
        Loud mid my silence, I confound my foes:
        Men think me fool in this vile world of woes;
        God's wisdom greets me sage from heaven's high throne.
With wings on earth oppressed aloft I bound;
        My gleeful soul sad bonds of flesh enclose:
        And though sometimes too great the burden grows,
        These pinions bear me upward from the ground.
A doubtful combat proves the warrior's might:
        Short is all time matched with eternity:
        Nought than a pleasing burden is more light.
My brows I bind with my love's effigy,
        Sure that my joyous flight will soon be sped
        Where without speech my thoughts shall all be read.