| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Doom of Beauty | | By Michelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | Translated by John Addington Symonds
CHOICE soul, in whom, as in a glass, we see, | |
| Mirrored in thy pure form and delicate, | |
| What beauties heaven and nature can create, | |
| The paragon of all their works to be! | |
| Fair soul, in whom love, pity, piety, | 5 |
| Have found a home, as from thy outward state | |
| We clearly read, and are so rare and great | |
| That they adorn none other like to thee! | |
| Love takes me captive; beauty binds my soul; | |
| Pity and mercy with their gentle eyes | 10 |
| Wake in my heart a hope that cannot cheat. | |
| What law, what destiny, what fell control, | |
| What cruelty, or late or soon, denies | |
| That death should spare perfection so complete? | | | | |
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