| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | A Sonnet to Heavenly Beauty | | By Joachim du Bellay (1552–1560) |
| | Translated by Andrew Lang
IF this our little life is but a day | |
| In the Eternal,—if the years in vain | |
| Toil after hours that never come again,— | |
| If everything that hath been must decay, | |
| Why dreamest thou of joys that pass away, | 5 |
| My soul, that my sad body doth restrain? | |
| Why of the moment’s pleasure art thou fain? | |
| Nay, thou hast wings,—nay, seek another stay. | |
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| There is the joy where to each soul aspires, | |
| And there the rest that all the world desires, | 10 |
| And there is love, and peace, and gracious mirth; | |
| And there in the most highest heavens shalt thou | |
| Behold the Very Beauty, whereof now | |
| Thou worshippest the shadow upon earth. | | | | |
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