| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | A Prayer for Purification | | By Michelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | Translated by John Addington Symonds
PERCHANCE that I might learn what pity is, | |
| That I might laugh at erring men no more, | |
| Secure in my own strength as heretofore, | |
| My soul hath fallen from her state of bliss: | |
| Now know I under any flag but this | 5 |
| How fighting I may ’scape those perils sore, | |
| Or how survive the rout and horrid roar | |
| Of adverse hosts, if I thy succour miss. | |
| O flesh! O blood! O cross! O pain extreme! | |
| By you may those foul sins be purified, | 10 |
| Wherein my fathers were, and I was born! | |
| Lo, Thou alone art good: let Thy supreme | |
| Pity my state of evil cleanse and hide— | |
| So near to death, so far from God, forlorn. | | | | |
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