If ‘tis confession then which cleanses white each wrong,
my conscience now must be as snow,
for each of Venus’ deeds which I’ve sent in secret done,
I did disclose and so cry woe.
And thus I do entreat of him who knows love’s pain
with me her joys now to repent,
for I, you see, do view this life as one short dream,
a summer rose that brief endures.
From: Miletich, John S. (transl.) and Slamnig, Ivan (ed.), “The Lute and the Lattice: Croatian Poetry of the 15th and 16th Centuries” in Brücke, 1971 (25), p. 26.
(http://croatian-literature-in-english.com/documents/-%20Ranjinas%20Miscellany.pdf)
Date: 15th century (original in Croatian); 1971 (translation in English)
By: Šišmundo (Šiško) Menčetić (1457-1527)
Translated by: John S. Miletich (19??- )
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