Works

S' avvien che spesso.


What though strong love of life doth flatter me
With hope of yet more years on earth to stay,
Death none the less draws nearer day by day,...

Parmi che spesso.


Ofttimes my great desire doth flatter me
With hope on earth yet many years to stay:
Still Death, the more I love it, day by day
Takes from the life I love so tenderly....

Perch' tuo gran bellezze.


That thy great beauty on our earth may be
Shrined in a lady softer and more kind,
I call on nature to collect and bind
All those delights the slow years steal from thee,...

Sol perch' tue bellezze.


If only that thy beauties here may be
Deathless through Time that rends the wreaths he twined,
I trust that Nature will collect and bind...

Passa per gli occhi.


Swift through the eyes unto the heart within
All lovely forms that thrall our spirit stray;
So smooth and broad and open is the way
That thousands and not hundreds enter in....

Passa per gli occhi.


Swift through the eyes unto the heart within
All lovely forms that thrall our spirit stray;
So smooth and broad and open is the way
That thousands and not hundreds enter in...

Da che concetto.


When divine Art conceives a form and face,
She bids the craftsman for his first essay
To shape a simple model in mere clay:
This is the earliest birth of Art's embrace....

Per ritornar l'.


As one who will reseek her home of light,
Thy form immortal to this prison-house
Descended, like an angel piteous,
To heal all hearts and make the whole world bright....

Venne, non so ben donde.


It came, I know not whence, from far above,
That clear immortal flame that still doth rise
Within thy sacred breast, and fills the skies,...

Tornami al tempo.


Bring back the time when blind desire ran free,
With bit and rein too loose to curb his flight;
Give back the buried face, once angel-bright,...

Tornami al tempo.


Bring back the time when glad desire ran free
With bit and rein too loose to curb his flight,
The tears and flames that in one breast unite,...

Non pi' ch' 'l foco il fabbro.


It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue
Unto fair form, the image of their thought:
Nor without fire hath any artist wrought
Gold to its utmost purity of hue....

La ragion meco si lamenta.


Reason laments and grieves full sore with me,
The while I hope by loving to be blest;
With precepts sound and true philosophy...

Ben pu' talor col mio.


Sometimes my love I dare to entertain
With soaring hope not over-credulous;
Since if all human loves were impious,
Unto what end did God the world ordain?...

Ben pu' talor col casto.


It must be right sometimes to entertain
Chaste love with hope not over-credulous;
Since if all human loves were impious,
Unto what end did God the world ordain?...

No so s' ' la desiata luce.


I know not if it be the longed-for light
Of her first Maker which the spirit feels;
Or if a time-old memory reveals
Some other beauty for the heart's delight;...

Non so se s' ' l' immaginata luce.


I know not if it be the fancied light
Which every man or more or less doth feel;
Or if the mind and memory reveal
Some other beauty for the heart's delight;...

Qua si fa elmi.


Here helms and swords are made of chalices:
The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart:
His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and short...

Se ben concetto.


When that which is divine in us doth try
To shape a face, both brain and hand unite
To give, from a mere model frail and slight,
Life to the stone by Art's free energy....

La fabbrica del mondo.


The fabric of the world--earth, air, and skies--
Each particle thereof and tiniest part
Designed for special ends--proclaims the art
Of an almighty Maker good and wise....