Poem for the penitent monks
Lokrantz calls this meter stanzas composed of three dodecasyllables and a quinary.
1.
Quis infelicis fletus aquam capiti,
Quis lacrimarum fontem dabit oculis?
Flendo, pupillae, tenebras obducite.
Vae mihi lapso!
Who will give a sea of weeping to the head of the unfortunate one,
Who will give a fountain of tears to his eyes?
Weeping, O my eyes, draw shadows away.
Alas to me, I am fallen!
Oh me sinner, the fallen one!
2.
Non guttae maris, non arenae litoris
Aequantur meis scelerum flagitiis;
Excedunt stellas pluviasque numero,
Pondere montes.
Neither the drops of the sea nor the sands of the shore
Can be matched to the disgraces of my crimes
They exceed in respect to their number, they exceed the stars and the rain in respect to weight
They surpass the mountains.
3.
Nam quibus non sim vitiis obnoxius,
Qui pravis semper deservivi moribus?
Deo solutus carnis vixi legibus
Fluxus in ima.
For to what sins am I not addicted,
Who was always devoted to wrongful corrupt habits?
Having been detached from God I lived by the laws of the flesh
In the depths of the flux.
4.
Sprevi praecepta, ausus sum prohibita,
Plures everti prava per indicia.
Noxius mihi, aliis inutilis
Artor utrimque.
I scorned the teachings, I dared the forbidden things,
I destroyed many people by perjury.
Harmful to myself, useless to others
I am pressed together on both sides.
5.
Non caelum dignus oculis aspicere,
Non Dei nomen labiis exprimere.
Prohibet aedis sacrae limen terere
Culpa remordens.
I am not worthy to look with my eyes at heaven,
Nor to express the name of God with my lips.
Tormenting guilt forbids me to tread upon
The threshold of the holy temple.
6.
Nunc quoque sacris deditus obsequiis
Veteris vitae stimulor illecebris,
Ut fugitivum repetunt in famulum
lura tyranni.
Now too having surrendered to holy obedience
After having been given dedicated to sacred rites
I am being tempted by the enticements of my old life,
Just as the laws of the tyrant lay claim to the runaway slave.
7.
Conor in fletu, riget cor lapideum;
Precibus insto, vagus abit spiritus;
Lumen inquiro, tenebrae phantasmatum
Protinus adsunt.
I am trying my best in tears, my stonelike heart is stiff;
I persist with prayers, my wandering spirit moves away;
I seek the light, suddenly shadows of imaginings
Alight.
8.
Efferum ira, tumidum superbia,
Edacem gula, vanum cenodoxia
Omnium frendens criminum barbaries
Subdere temptat.
Anger tries to subdue the savage one, pride tries to subdue the swollen one,
The throat tries to subdue greediness, vainglory tries to subdue vanity
The barbaric crowd of all crimes gnashing its teeth
Tries to put me under.
9.
Saepe resisto armaque corripio,
Mihi congressus mecum ipse dimico,
Sed legi carnis lex dum cedit spiritus,
Praeda fit hosti.
I often resist and I often take up arms,
And having clashed with myself, I fight with myself,
But as long as the law of the spirit yields to the laws of the flesh,
It becomes plunder to the enemy.
10.
Saepe divino igne cor accenditur,
Seque trascendens mens in alta rapitur
Sed genuinae corruptelae labitur
Pondere pressa.
Often my heart is lit with a divine fire,
And my mind surpassing itself is seized on high
But having been pressed with the weight of inborn corruption.
My heart gives way.
11.
Lux inaccesa micat ut per rimulas,
Cui mens intenta sitienter inhiat,
Cuius obtutus ecce carnis obvians
Umbra retundit.
Unapproachable light quivers as through fissures,
To which my mind attentively stands open,
The sight of which, behold, causes
The shadow of the flesh to dull.
12.
Hostis antiqui telis mille sauciam
Ploro peremptam in peccatis animam.
Qui vacuasti mortis iura mortuus,
Tange, resurgat.
I deplore the soul wounded with a thousand weapons of the ancient enemy
Destroyed in its sins.
You, already dead, voided the laws of death,
Touch the soul, let it rise again.
13.
Palma iustorum spesque paenitentium,
Da, Christe, manum et profundis erutum
Solve peractis, hinc ab imminentibus
Eripe noxis.
Reward of the just and hope of the penitent,
Give me, Christ, your hand and me having been uprooted from the lowest depths to which one can fall
Release me from the those harms which I have done to myself, hence from those which threaten
Seize me.
14.
Tu peccatrici lacrimas non respuis;
Tu publicanum paenitentem recipis;
Vitam latroni iam in morte posito
Te dare spondes.
You do not despise the tears of the sinner;
You take back the repentent tax collector;
You promise that you are giving life to the highway robber now placed
On death row by you.
15.
Per haec te quaeso pietatis viscera:
Et me de vinculis tot culparum libera.
Mereor iram, effunde clementiam,
Fons pietatis.
I beg you in the name of these guts of piety:
And free me from these chains of so many sins.
I deserve anger, pour forth mercy,
O font of piety.
16.
Da tuis semper obsequar imperiis
Sicque supernis dignum redde praemiis.
Qui patri compar Sanctoque Spiritui
Cuncta gubernas.
Amen.
Grant that I may always follow your commands
And render me worthy of supreme rewards.
You who, being equal, to the father and the holy spirit
Govern all.
Amen.
