Explore "A Pie De' Colli Ove La Bella Vesta" by Francesco Petrarca on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
HE FEIGNS AN ADDRESS FROM SOME BIRDS WHICH HE HAD PRESENTED.
Beneath the verdant hills -- where the fair vest / Of earthly mould first took the Lady dear, / Who him that sends us, feather'd captives, here / Awakens often from his tearful rest -- / Lived we in freedom and in quiet, blest / With everything which life below might cheer, / No foe suspecting, harass'd by no fear / That aught our wanderings ever could molest; / But snatch'd from that serener life, and thrown / To the low wretched state we here endure, / One comfort, short of death, survives alone: / Vengeance upon our captor full and sure! / Who, slave himself at others' power, remains / Pent in worse prison, bound by sterner chains.