Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals
English Translations
One afternoon I sat and watched a bird
as streams of song came bubbling from its beak; I heard its singing rinsing through the wood and wash the dust from every summer leaf. It flew in a frenzy, bouncing along from the fir to the beech - from the beech to the myrtle, pausing only to scatter seeds of song which if it had a human heart would say: I am burning with love… I am burning with love…; yet though a bird its tiny heart still burns, and so it called forever through the leaves, until as evening fell it heard at last: Me too... Me too… I too am burning with love...; blessings be upon you fine, loving little bird!
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