L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.

Amor, ch'al cor gentile ratto s'apprendeprese costui de la bella personache mi fu tolta; e 'l modo ancor m'offende.Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona,Mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,Che, come vedi, ancor non m'abbandona...""Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart,Seized him with my beautiful formThat was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me.Love, which pardons no beloved from loving,took me so strongly with delight in himThat, as you see, it still abandons me not...

Love, that moves the sun and the other stars

Here powers failed my high imagination:But by now my desire and will were turned,Like a balanced wheel rotated evenly,By the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.

I, answering in the end, began: 'Alas,how many yearning thoughts, what great desire,have lead them through such sorrow to their fate?

Imagination, there on high—To high to breathe free, after such a climb—Had lost its power; but now, just like a wheelThat spins so evenly it measures timeBy space, the deepest wish that I could feelAnd all my will, were turning with the loveThat moves the sun and all the stars above.

Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me.

Through her full easily is comprehended How long in woman lasts the fire of love, If eye or touch do no relight it often

That infinite and indescribable good which is there above races as swiftly to love as a ray of light to a bright body.It gives of itself according to the ardor it finds, so that as charity spreads farther the eternal good increases upon it,and the more souls there are who love, up there, the more there are to love well, and the more love they reflect to each other, as in a mirror.