Love
Sonnet XXXII: Love's Expostulation
Translated by John Addington Symonds (1878) · From Sonnets (trans. Symonds, 1878)
If love be chaste, if virtue conquer ill,
If fortune bind both lovers in one bond,
If either at the other's grief despond,
If both be governed by one life, one will;
If in two bodies one soul triumph still,
Raising the twain from earth to heaven beyond,
If Love with one blow and one golden wand
Have power both smitten breasts to pierce and thrill;
If each the other love, himself forgoing,
With such delight, such savour, and so well,
That both to one sole end their wills combine;
If thousands of these thoughts, all thought outgoing,
Fail the least part of their firm love to tell:
Say, can mere angry spite this knot untwine?
Cite this poem
MLA
Buonarroti, Michelangelo. “Sonnet XXXII: Love's Expostulation.” Translated by John Addington Symonds. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/michelangelo/32/.
Chicago
Buonarroti, Michelangelo. “Sonnet XXXII: Love's Expostulation.” Translated by John Addington Symonds. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/michelangelo/32/.
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