My lofty fancy passed as low as Hell
As high as Heaven, secure and unconfined;
And in my noble book doth every kind
Of earthly love and heavenly doctrine dwell.
Renounèd Florence was my mother,—nay,
Stepmother unto me her piteous son,
Through sin of cursed slander's tongue and tooth.
Ravenna sheltered me so cast away;
My body is with her,—my soul with One
For Whom no envy can make dim the truth."[640]