To Guido Cavalcanti

Guido, I wish that Lapo, you, and I
could board a vessel, by transporter beam,
that sailed by will alone, wherever seemed
desirable to go, beneath all skies.
I’d have our vessel proof to chance and gale,
and well supplied for pleasant times at sea:
we’d grow into a merry company —
good food and reveling would be the rule.
And Guido, we’d try beaming up the dames!
We’d take the ladies Vanna, Bess, and her
whom I discreetly call the Mistress Trenta:
love, of course, would be the main agenda;
that would keep ’em happy I am sure,
and well I know that we would be the same.
© 1999, 2001 by