| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | Love | | By Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) |
| | Translated by John Herman Merivale
LOVE, the great master of true eloquence, | |
| Disdains the tribute of a vulgar tongue. | |
| Cold are the words, and vain the affected song | |
| Of him whose boasted passion is pretence. | |
| The favoured few that to his court belong | 5 |
| With noblest gifts the mighty god presents; | |
| Their vigorous accents chain the admiring sense, | |
| And their warm words in torrents stream along. | |
| Oft too—O wondrous excellence of Love!— | |
| Unuttered vows and sighs and accents broken | 10 |
| With far more force the gentle bosom move | |
| Than smoothest phrase with courtly action spoken. | |
| E’en Silence oft has found the power to prove | |
| Both word and prayer, when it is true love’s token. | | | | |
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