LV.

LOVE’S ENTREATY.

Tu sa’ ch’ i’ so, Signor mie.

Thou knowest, love, I know that thou dost know
    That I am here more near to thee to be,
    And knowest that I know thou knowest me: 
    What means it then that we are sundered so? 
If they are true, these hopes that from thee flow,
    If it is real, this sweet expectancy,
    Break down the wall that stands ’twixt me and thee;
    For pain in prison pent hath double woe. 
Because in thee I love, O my loved lord,
    What thou best lovest, be not therefore stern: 
    Souls burn for souls, spirits to spirits cry! 
I seek the splendour in thy fair face stored;
    Yet living man that beauty scarce can learn,
    And he who fain would find it, first must die.

LVI.

FIRST READING.

HEAVEN-BORN BEAUTY.

Per ritornar la.

As one who will reseek her home of light,
    Thy form immortal to this prison-house
    Descended, like an angel piteous,
    To heal all hearts and make the whole world bright. 
’Tis this that thralls my soul in love’s delight,
    Not thy clear face of beauty glorious;
    For he who harbours virtue, still will choose
    To love what neither years nor death can blight. 
So fares it ever with things high and rare
    Wrought in the sweat of nature; heaven above
    Showers on their birth the blessings of her prime: 
Nor hath God deigned to show Himself elsewhere
    More clearly than in human forms sublime;
    Which, since they image Him, alone I love.

LVI.

SECOND READING.

HEAVEN-BORN BEAUTY.

Venne, non so ben donde.

It came, I know not whence, from far above,
    That clear immortal flame that still doth rise
    Within thy sacred breast, and fills the skies,
    And heals all hearts, and adds to heaven new love. 
This burns me, this, and the pure light thereof;
    Not thy fair face, thy sweet untroubled eyes: 
    For love that is not love for aught that dies,
    Dwells in the soul where no base passions move. 
If then such loveliness upon its own
    Should graft new beauties in a mortal birth,
    The sheath bespeaks the shining blade within. 
To gain our love God hath not clearer shown
    Himself elsewhere:  thus heaven doth vie with earth
    To make thee worthy worship without sin.

LVII.

FIRST READING.

CARNAL AND SPIRITUAL LOVE.

Passa per gli occhi.