From the Italian. Seven Sonnets and a Canzone. IV. Old Age

THE COURSE of my long life hath reached at last,

In fragile bark o’er a tempestuous sea,

The common harbor, where must rendered be

Account of all the actions of the past.

The impassioned phantasy, that, vague and vast,

Made art an idol and a king to me,

Was an illusion, and but vanity

Were the desires that lured me and harassed.

The dreams of love, that were so sweet of yore,

What are they now, when two deaths may be mine,—

One sure, and one forecasting its alarms?

Painting and sculpture satisfy no more

The soul now turning to the Love Divine,

That oped, to embrace us, on the cross its arms.