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. The House of Life. Sonnet 35. The Lamp's Shrine
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 74. Old and New Art - 1. St. Luke the Painter
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 23. Love's Baubles
4. Last Sonnets at Paris
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 17. Beauty's Pageant

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