Sonnets (English, Italian and Italian Edition)

Excerpt: ...remains for me:     Fain would my flesh abide; my soul would flee     Heavenward, for still she calls on me to go.     Blind is the world; and evil here below     O'erwhelms and triumphs over honesty:     The light is quenched; quenched too is bravery:     Lies reign, and truth hath ceased her face to show.     When will that day dawn, Lord, for which he waits     Who trusts in Thee? Lo, this prolonged delay     Destroys all hope and robs the soul of life.     Why streams the light from those celestial gates,     If death prevent the day of grace, and stay     Our souls for ever in the toils of strife? LXX. A PRAYER FOR STRENGTH. Carico d'anni. Burdened with years and full of sinfulness,     With evil custom grown inveterate,     Both deaths I dread that close before me wait,     Yet feed my heart on poisonous thoughts no less. No strength I find in mine own feebleness     To change or life or love or use or fate,     Unless Thy heavenly guidance come, though late,     Which only helps and stays our nothingness. 'Tis not enough, dear Lord, to make me yearn     For that celestial home, where yet my soul     May be new made, and not, as erst, of nought: Nay, ere Thou strip her mortal vestment, turn     My steps toward the steep ascent, that whole     And pure before Thy face she may be brought. LXXI. A PRAYER FOR PURIFICATION. Forse perchè d' altrui. Perchance that I might learn what pity is,     That I might laugh at erring men no more,     Secure in my own strength as heretofore,     My soul hath fallen from her state of bliss: Nor know I under any flag but this     How fighting I may 'scape those perils sore,     Or how survive the rout and horrid roar     Of adverse hosts, if I Thy succour miss. O flesh! O blood! O cross! O pain extreme!     By you may those foul sins be purified,     Wherein my fathers were, and I was born! Lo,...