The Sonnets Of Michael Angelo Buonarroti And Tommaso Campanella Part 22

LV.

To Annibale Caraccioli,

_A WRITER OF ECLOGUES._

_Non Licida, ne Driope._

Lycoris, Lycidas, and Dryope Cannot, dear Niblo, save thy name from death; Shadows that fleet, and flowers that yield their breath, Match not the Love that craves infinity.

The beauty thou dost wors.h.i.+p dwells in thee: Within thy soul divine it harboureth: This also bids my spirit soar, and saith Words that unsphere for me heaven's harmony.

Make then thine inborn l.u.s.tre beam and s.h.i.+ne With love of goodness; goodness cannot fail: From G.o.d alone let praise immense be thine.

My soul is tired of telling o'er the tale With men: she calls on thine: she bids thee go Into G.o.d's school with tablets white as snow.

LVI.

_TO TELESIUS OF COSENZA._

_Telesio, il telo._

Telesius, the arrow from thy bow Midmost his band of sophists slays that high Tyrant of souls that think; he cannot fly: While Truth soars free, loosed by the self-same blow.

Proud lyres with thine immortal praises glow, Smitten by bards elate with victory: Lo, thine own Cavalcante, stormfully Lightning, still strikes the fortress of the foe!

Good Gaieta bedecks our saint serene With robes translucent, light-irradiate, Restoring her to all her natural sheen; The while my tocsin at the temple-gate Of the wide universe proclaims her queen, Pythia of first and last ordained by fate.

LVII.

_TO RIDOLFO DI BINA._

_Senno ed Amor._

Wisdom and love, O Bina, gave thee wings, Before the blossom of thy years had faded, To fly with Adam for thy guide, G.o.d-aided, Through many lands in divers journeyings.

Pure virtue is thy guerdon: virtue brings Glory to thee, death to the foes degraded, Who through long years of darkness have invaded Thy Germany, mother of slaves not kings.

Yet, gazing on heaven's book, heroic child, My soul discerns graces divine in thee:-- Leave toys and playthings to the crowd of fools!

Do thou with heart fervent and proudly mild Make war upon those fraud-engendering schools!

I see thee victor, and in G.o.d I see.

LVIII.

_TO TOBIA ADAMI._

_Portando in man._

Holding the cynic lantern in your hand, Through Europe, Egypt, Asia, you have pa.s.sed, Till at Ausonia's feet you find at last That Cyclops' cave, where I, to darkness banned, In light eternal forge for you the brand Against Abaddon, who hath overcast The truth and right, Adami, made full fast Unto G.o.d's glory by our steadfast band.

Go, smite each sophist, tyrant, hypocrite!

Girt with the arms of the first Wisdom, free Your country from the frauds that c.u.mber it!

Swerve not: 'twere sin. How good, how great the praise Of him who turns youth, strength, soul, energy, Unto the dayspring of the eternal rays!

LIX.

_A SONNET ON CAUCASUS._

_Temo che per morir._

I fear that by my death the human race Would gain no vantage. Thus I do not die.

So wide is this vast cage of misery That flight and change lead to no happier place.

s.h.i.+fting our pains, we risk a sorrier case: All worlds, like ours, are sunk in agony: Go where we will, we feel; and this my cry I may forget like many an old disgrace.

Who knows what doom is mine? The Omnipotent Keeps silence; nay, I know not whether strife Or peace was with me in some earlier life.

Philip in a worse prison me hath pent These three days past--but not without G.o.d's will.

Stay we as G.o.d decrees: G.o.d doth no ill.

LX.

_G.o.d MADE AND G.o.d RULES._

_La fabbrica del mondo._

The fabric of the world--earth, air, and skies-- Each particle thereof and tiniest part Designed for special ends--proclaims the art Of an almighty Maker good and wise.

Nathless the lawless brutes, our crimes and lies, The joys of vicious men, the good man's smart, All creatures swerving from their ends, impart Doubts that the Ruler is nor good nor wise.

Can it then be that boundless Power, Love, Mind, Lets others reign, the while He takes repose?

Hath He grown old, or hath He ceased to heed?

Nay, one G.o.d made and rules: He shall unwind The tangled skein; the hidden law disclose, Whereby so many sinned in thought and deed.

NOTES ON MICHAEL ANGELO'S SONNETS.

I. Quoted by Donato Giannotti in his Dialogue _De' giorni che Dante consum nel cercare l'Inferno e 'l Purgatorio._ The date of its composition is perhaps 1545.

II. Written probably for Donato Giannotti about the same date.