My Lady

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)

From the Italian by Charles Eliot Norton

SO gentle and so gracious doth appear

My lady when she giveth her salute,

That every tongue becometh, trembling, mute;

Nor do the eyes to look upon her dare.

Although she hears her praises, she doth go

Benignly vested with humility;

And like a thing come down she seems to be

From heaven to earth, a miracle to show.

So pleaseth she whoever cometh nigh,

She gives the heart a sweetness through the eyes,

Which none can understand who doth not prove.

And from her countenance there seems to move

A spirit sweet and in Love’s very guise,

Who to the soul, in going, sayeth: Sigh!