A nice libretto based on the third chapter of Dante’s La Vita Nuova
Vide Cor Meum
Italian/Latin
Chorus: E pensando di lei Mi sopragiunse uno soave sonno
Ego dominus tuus Vide cor tuum E d’sto core ardendo Cor tuum
(Chorus: Lei paventosa)
Umilmente pascea Appreso gir lo ne vedea piangendo
La letizia si convertia In amarissimo pianto
Io sono in pace Cor meum Io sono in pace Vide cor meum
English
Chorus: And thinking of her Sweet sleep overcame me
I am your master Behold your heart
And of this burning heart Your heart
(Chorus: She trembling)
Obediently eats Weeping, I saw him then depart from me
Joy is converted To bitterest tears
I am in peace My heart
I am in peace Here’s my Heart
The passage from La Vita Nuova upon which it is based:
And thinking of her a sweet sleep overcame me, in which a marvellous vision appeared to me: so that it seemed I saw in my room a flame-coloured nebula, in the midst of which I discerned the shape of a lord of fearful aspect to those who gazed on him: and he appeared to me with such joy, so much joy within himself, that it was a miraculous thing: and in his speech he said many things, of which I understood only a few: among them I understood this: ‘Ego dominus tuus: I am your lord.’
It seemed to me he held a figure sleeping in his arms, naked except that it seemed to me to be covered lightly with a crimson cloth: gazing at it very intently I realised it was the lady of the greeting, she who had deigned to greet me before that day. And in one of his hands it seemed to me that he held something completely on fire, and he seemed to say to me these words: ‘Vide cor tuum: Look upon your heart. And when he had stood for a while, he seemed to wake her who slept: and by his art was so forceful that he made her eat the thing that burned in her hand, which she ate hesitantly.
After waiting for a little while his joy was all turned to bitter grief: and, so grieving, he gathered that lady in his arms, and it seemed to me that he ascended with her towards heaven: from which I experienced such anguish that my light sleep could not endure it, and so was broken, and was dispersed. And immediately I began to reflect, and discovered that the hour in which this vision appeared to me was the fourth of that night: so as to be manifestly clear, it was the first hour of the nine last hours of night. Thinking to myself about what had appeared to me, I decided to make it known to many who were famous poets of the time: and as it was a fact that I had already gained for myself to some extent the art of speaking words in rhyme, I decided to shape a sonetto, in which I would greet all those faithful to Amor: and begging them to interpret my vision, I wrote for them what I had seen in my sleep. And then I began this sonetto, that which begins: A ciascun´alma presa e gentil core.
Although not strictly speaking poetry, the famous prayer of the Maghribi Shaykh ‘abd as-Salaam ibn Mashish on the Prophet of Islam, joins beautiful and profound symbolism with an nearly equally profound beauty of sound. Every poem seems tinged with prayer, and every sincere prayer bears the perfume of poetry, as these recitations show:
Translation:
O my God (Allāhumma), bless him from whom derive the secrets and from whom gush forth the lights, and in whom rise up the realities, and into whom descended the sciences of Adam, so that he hath made powerless all creatures, and so that understandings are diminished in his regard, and no one amongst us, neither predecessor nor successor, can grasp him.
The gardens of the spiritual world (al-malakūt) are adorned with the flower of his beauty, and the pools of the world of omnipotence (al-jabarūt) overflow with the outpouring of his lights.
There existeth nothing that is not linked to him, even as it was said: “Were there no mediator, everything that dependeth on him would disappear!” (Bless him, O my God), by a blessing such as returneth to him through Thee from Thee, according to his due.
O my God, he is Thine integral secret, that demonstrateth Thee, and Thy supreme veil, raised up before Thee.
O my God, join me to his posterity and justify me by Thy reckoning of him. Let me know him with a knowledge that saveth me from the wells of ignorance and quencheth my thirst at the wells of virtue. Carry me on his way, surrounded by Thine aid, towards Thy presence. Strike through me at vanity, so that I may destroy it. Plunge me in the oceans of Oneness (al-ahadīyah), pull me back from the sloughs of tawhīd, and drown me in the pure source of the ocean of Unity (al-wahdah), so that I neither see nor hear nor am conscious nor feel except through it. And make of the Supreme Veil the life of my spirit, and of his spirit the secret of my reality, and of his reality all my worlds, by the realization of the First Truth.
O First, O Last, O Outward, O Inward, hear my petition, even as Thou heardest the petition of Thy servant Zachariah; succour me through Thee unto Thee, support me through Thee unto Thee, unite me with Thee, and come in between me and other-than Thee: Allah, Allah, Allah! Verily He who hath imposed on thee the Qu’an for a law, will bring thee back to the promised end (Qur’ān, 28:85).
Our Lord, grant us mercy from Thy presence, and shape for us right conduct in our plight (Qur’ān, 18:10).
Verily God and His angels bless the Prophet; O ye who believe, bless him and wish him peace (Qur’ān, 33:56).
May the graces (salawāt) of God, His peace, His salutations, His mercy and His blessings (barakāt) be on our Lord Muhammad, Thy servant, Thy prophet and Thy messenger, the un-lettered prophet, and on his family and on his companions, (graces) as numerous as the even and the odd and as the perfect and blessed words of our Lord.
Glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of Glory, beyond what they attribute unto Him, and peace be on the Messengers. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds (Qur’ān, 37:180–182).”