Amorosa Erranza

Cosi mi trovo in amorosa erranza.
(Thus I find myself an errancer in love.)
—Dante

All my dark hardiments begin, so furious and so fell. All disarrayed in love I began to speak of Mariners. And when I saw the grove divided into double parts, which ways I took, diversely can I tell but can no ways devise. So in I enterred was, and marvelled at the wandering way. Although my leman, I am in wondrous doubt—tell me, ERE I DIE OF LOVE—which way to turn? Your hands are like pansies your teeth are like tombstones, and all along the way even the labyrinths shuddered. Where can I go to powder my nose safely? Your address makes me feel intimate, yet I undergo the strangest beguilements, I become incredulous.

From Advice for Lovers by Julian T. Brolaski. Copyright © 2012 by Julian T. Brolaski. Reprinted with permission of City Lights Books. All rights reserved.