| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | Celestial Love | | By Michelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | Translated by John Addington Symonds
NO mortal thing enthralled these longing eyes | |
| When perfect peace in thy fair face I found; | |
| But far within, where all is holy ground, | |
| My soul felt Love, her comrade of the skies: | |
| For she was born with God in Paradise; | 5 |
| Nor all the shows of beauty shed around | |
| This fair false world her wings to earth have bound: | |
| Unto the Love of Loves aloft she flies. | |
| Nay, things that suffer death, quench not the fire | |
| Of deathless spirits; nor eternity | 10 |
| Serves sordid Time, that withers all things rare. | |
| Not love but lawless impulse is desire: | |
| That slays the soul; our love makes still more fair | |
| Our friends on earth, fairer in death on high. | | | | |
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