Michelangelo (1475–1564)

Translated by William Wordsworth

THE PRAYERS I make will then be sweet indeed,

If Thou the spirit give by which I pray:

My unassisted heart is barren clay,

Which of its native self can nothing feed:

Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,

Which quickens only where Thou say’st it may;

Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way,

No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.

Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind

By which such virtue may in me be bred

That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread;

The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,

That I may have the power to sing of Thee,

And sound Thy praises everlastingly.