E trapassar le spere, e pervenire

Davanti al divin trono infra i beati,

E lei veder, che seguirla mi face,

Sì bella, ch' io nol so poscia ridire,

Quando ne' luoghi lor son ritornati

Gli spiriti, che van cercando pace."

Like Laura, it is true, but more like herself,[384] she visits her lover in a dream (sonnets xix., xxix., and lxxxviii.).[385] All these sonnets were not necessarily or even probably written immediately after Fiammetta's death. The thought of her was present with Boccaccio during the rest of his life,[386] and it is noteworthy and moving that at the age of sixty-one he should thus address Petrarch dead in a sonnet (xcvii.):—

"Or sei salito, caro Signor mio

Nel regno, al qual salire ancora aspetta

Ogn' anima da Dio a quello eletta,