| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Massacre of the Innocents | | By Vittoria Colonna (1490–1547) |
| | Translated by James Glassford, of Dougalston
PURE innocents, your lord, revealed so late, | |
| Departs, and leaves you unprotected quite; | |
| He wills that on your heads the storm should light, | |
| Averted from His own. Thrice happy fate! | |
| Herod, his dark and fell revenge to sate, | 5 |
| Crops the sweet flowers in bud! O baffled spite! | |
| He gives you thus unfading fruits and bright, | |
| And by short suffering, joys of endless date. | |
| Snatched from the breast, not words but feeble cries | |
| Proclaim the martyrs, whom his deed hath crowned | 10 |
| With palm and laurel from celestial groves. | |
| No sooner are your silken shoulders found | |
| Fledged with the wing, O dear and infant loves, | |
| Than up to heaven at the first flight you rise. | | | | |
|
|
