| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | On the Brink of Death | | By Michelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | Translated by John Addington Symonds
NOW hath my life across a stormy sea | |
| Like a frail bark reached that wide port where all | |
| Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall | |
| Of good and evil for eternity. | |
| Now know I well how that fond phantasy | 5 |
| Which made my soul the worshipper and thrall | |
| Of earthly art, is vain; how criminal | |
| Is that which all men seek unwillingly. | |
| Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed, | |
| What are they when the double death is nigh? | 10 |
| The one I know for sure, the other dread. | |
| Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest | |
| My soul that turns to His great love on high, | |
| Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread. | | | | |
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