To the Most Serene Queen of Spain, Lady Marguerite of Austria


Margherita, pearl and bloom ascendant
Flower of beauty, pearl of worth divine.
Such a pearl resplendent
Exotic gleam, the flower we espy
Exudes Arabian spice.
Scent – each one inspires,
Light – each soul admires,
Perfume & light supreme,
Prove you immortal, of the seraphim.

        Cherubino Ferrari, known as “The Ethereal One”.


By Cesare Negri
translated, from the Italian, by Yvonne Kendall

 
Yvonne Kendall is currently an MFA student in creative nonfiction with a translation sub-concentration at Columbia University in New York City. Trained at Stanford University, she is a published musicologist with a dance history emphasis.

The poems in this volume are part of the dedication pages of Cesare Negri‘s Le gratie d’amore (1602), a dance manual published in Milan Italy. The poets were all members of a humanistic academy known as Accademia degli Inquieti.