Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.

Sorgues, the River

Laura de Sade

By Jacopo Sannazzaro (1458–1530)

Translated by Capel Lofft

THE NYMPH by Sorga’s humble murmurings born,

Illustrious now on wings of glory soars;

Her high renown its awful echo pours

Wide o’er the earth. Splendors like these adorn

Her, destined, in her modest beauty’s morn,

To charm the eye of Petrarch. Her the doors

Of fame’s proud dome enshrine; the radiant stores

Of fancy blaze around her; nor does scorn

On her low birthplace and obscurer tomb

Glance a triumphant scowl. What suns illume

With lustre like the Muse? How many dames,

Wise, chaste, and lovely, of distinguished race,

Have slept in death forgotten, lost their names,

While hers from age to age beams with still heightened grace.