| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | Love’s Justification | | By Michelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | Translated by William Wordsworth
YES! hope may with my strong desire keep pace, | |
| And I be undeluded, unbetrayed; | |
| For if of our affections none find grace | |
| In sight of Heaven, then wherefore hath God made | |
| The world which we inhabit? Better plea | 5 |
| Love cannot have, than that in loving thee | |
| Glory to that eternal peace is paid, | |
| Who such divinity to thee imparts | |
| As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts. | |
| His hope is treacherous only whose love dies | 10 |
| With beauty, which is varying every hour; | |
| But, in chaste hearts uninfluenced by the power | |
| Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower, | |
| That breathes on earth the air of paradise. | | | | |
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