Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

His Lady’s Death

Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585)

TWAIN that were foes, while Mary lived, are fled:

One laurel-crowned abides in heaven, and one

Beneath the earth has fared, a fallen sun,

A light of love among the loveless dead.

The first is Chastity, that vanquishéd

The archer Love, that held joint empery

With the sweet beauty that made war on me,

When laughter of lips with laughing eyes was wed.

Their strife the Fates have closed, with stern control,

The earth holds her fair body, and her soul

An angel with glad angels triumpheth;

Love has no more that he can do; desire

Is buried, and my heart a faded fire,

And for Death’s sake, I am in love with Death.