| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXVI. Melancholy
His Lady’s Death | | By Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585) |
| | Translated by Andrew Lang
TWAIN that were foes, while Mary lived, are fled: | |
| One laurel-crowned abides in heaven, and one | |
| Beneath the earth has fared, a fallen sun, | |
| A light of love among the loveless dead. | |
| The first is Chastity, that vanquishèd | 5 |
| The archer Love, that held joint empery | |
| With the sweet beauty that made war on me, | |
| When laughter of lips with laughing eyes was wed. | |
| Their strife the Fates have closed, with stern control, | |
| The earth holds her fair body, and her soul | 10 |
| An angel with glad angels triumpheth; | |
| Love has no more that he can do; desire | |
| Is buried, and my heart a faded fire, | |
| And for Death’s sake, I am in love with Death, | | | | |
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