Like Grecian Poets, give thee human cheeks,
Channels for tears! No Naiad should’st thou be;
Have neither wings, feet, feathers, joints, nor hairs. 10
It seems the Eternal Soul is clothed in thee
With purer robes than those of flesh and blood,
And hath bestowed on thee a better good;
The joy of fleshly life without its cares.
TRANSLATION FROM MICHAEL ANGELO
The date of this is unknown, and the original MS. is difficult to decipher. It is here and there illegible. It may belong to the year of the “Ecclesiastical Sonnets,” but I place it beside the other translation from Michael Angelo.—Ed.
Rid of a vexing and a heavy load,