| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Philosophic Flight | | By Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) |
| | Translated by John Addington Symonds
NOW that these wings to speed my wish ascend, | |
| The more I feel vast air beneath my feet, | |
| The more toward boundless air on pinions fleet, | |
| Spurning the earth, soaring to heaven, I tend: | |
| Nor makes them stoop their flight the direful end | 5 |
| Of Dædal’s son; but upward still they beat. | |
| What life the while with this death could compete, | |
| If dead to earth at last I must descend? | |
| My own heart’s voice in the void air I hear. | |
| Where wilt thou bear me, O rash man! Recall | 10 |
| Thy daring will! This boldness waits on fear! | |
| Dread not, I answer, that tremendous fall: | |
| Strike through the clouds, and smile when death is near, | |
| If death so glorious be our doom at all! | | | | |
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