Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 94. Michelangelo's Kiss

Great Michelangelo, with age grown bleak
And uttermost labours, having once o'ersaid
All grievous memories on his long life shed,
This worst regret to one true heart could speak:--
That when, with sorrowing love and reverence meek;
He stooped o'er sweet Colonna's dying bed,
His Muse and dominant Lady, spirit-wed,--
Her hand he kissed, but not her brow or cheek.

O Buonarruoti,--good at Art's fire-wheels
To urge her chariot!--even thus the Soul,
Touching at length some sorely-chastened goal,
Earns oftenest but a little: her appeals
Were deep and mute,--lowly her claim. Let be:
What holds for her Death's garner? And for thee?

1. At Issue
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 89. The Trees of the Garden
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 27. Heart's Compass
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 32. Equal Troth
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 95. The Vase of Life

Print

1855 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version