AND A CANZONE, FROM THE ITALIAN OF MICHAEL ANGELO. [THE following translations are from the poems of Michael Angelo as revised by his nephew Michael Angelo the Younger, and were made before the publication of the original text by Guasti.] In an old man thou canst not wake | So that a thousand years after we die, desire; Souls that have almost reached the other shore Of a diviner love should feel the darts, And be as tinder to a holier fire. IV. OLD AGE. VI. TO VITTORIA COLONNA. THE course of my long life hath reached WHEN the prime mover of my many sighs at last, Heaven took through death from out her earthly place, Nature, that never made so fair a face, Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes. fate, unheeding my impassioned cries! O hopes fallacious! O thou spirit of grace, Where art thou now? Earth holds in its embrace Thy lovely limbs, thy holy thoughts the skies. Vainly did cruel death attempt to stay The rumor of thy virtuous renown, That Lethe's waters could not wash away! A thousand leaves, since he hath stricken thee down, Speak of thee, nor to thee could Heaven convey, Except through death, a refuge and a crown. V. VII. TO VITTORIA COLONNA. DANTE. LADY, how can it chance yet this we❘ WHAT should be said of him cannot be |