To Beatrice on Her First Interview with Dante

Daughter of Portinari, thou hast met
This eve the bard of Hell and Paradise:
By love's own hand the very hour was set
For thy glad greeting, and his sweet surprise.
In that short interview his loving eye
Hath seized thy fair belongings, and distrain'd
Thy crimson gown to dress his dreams with joy,
And flame across his lonely hours. He gain'd
A prize in meeting thee, and thou hast part
Henceforth in him, to all his fame allied:
For thou hast pass'd into a poet's heart,
To be his Beatrice, his angel-guide.
Hail! little handmaid of a great renown,
With thine eight summers and thy crimson gown!