ma un mio sospiro ardente fu più verace testimon del core; - Torquato Tasso

So we, if children young diseased we find,
Anoint with sweets the vessel's foremost parts
To make them taste the potions sharp we give;
They drink deceived, and so deceived, they live.

In what a narrow circuit, among what
abandoned solitudes your fame lies bound!
Amid vast seas your island earth is shut,
though "vast" or "ocean", or what words resound
to name that sea, are idle names and fond,
for what it is: a shallow bog, a pond.

Thus if just once you tasted
the thousandth part of joy's flavor,
savor from a loving and beloved heart,
repentently you'd say:
"Lost is all that time
I didn't spend in love!"