Sonnet to Guido Cavalcanti
(After Dante Alighieri "Guido, vorrei che tu e Lapo ed io")

Guido, I wish that Lapo, you, and I
could board a vessel, by transporter beam,
that sailed by will alone wherever seemed
desirable to go, beneath all skies.

Whatever waves that tossed or gales that blew
would never be allowed to spoil the fun.
We’d share a single wish and think as one,
as our desire to stay together grew.

And Guido, we’d try beaming up the dames!
We’d take the ladies Vanna, Bess, and her
whom I discreetly call the Mistress Trenta.

Love, of course, would be the main agenda —
that would keep ’em happy I am sure,
and well I know that we would be the same.

Leonard Cottrell