Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The Worlds Best Poetry. Volume II. Love. 1904. | | VII. Loves Power | The might of one fair face | Michaelangelo (14751564) |
| From the Italian by John Edward Taylor THE MIGHT of one fair face sublimes my love, | |
For it hath weaned my heart from low desires; | |
Nor death I heed, nor purgatorial fires. | |
Thy beauty, antepast of joys above, | |
Instructs me in the bliss that saints approve; | 5 |
For O, how good, how beautiful, must be | |
The God that made so good a thing as thee, | |
So fair an image of the heavenly Dove! | |
Forgive me if I cannot turn away | |
From those sweet eyes that are my earthly heaven, | 10 |
For they are guiding stars, benignly given | |
To tempt my footsteps to the upward way; | |
And if I dwell too fondly in thy sight, | |
I live and love in Gods peculiar light. | | | |
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