“The might of one fair face”

Michaelangelo (1475–1564)

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;

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,

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 God’s peculiar light.