Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/364

11.

"Vien dietro a me e lascia dir le genti."—Dante.
"Contando i casi della vita nostra."—Petrarca.

Many in aftertimes will say of you
 "He loved her"—while of me what will they say?
 Not that I loved you more than just in play,
For fashion's sake as idle women do.
Even let them prate; who know not what we knew
 Of love and parting in exceeding pain,
 Of parting hopeless here to meet again,
Hopeless on earth, and heaven is out of view.
But by my heart of love laid bare to you,
 My love that you can make not void nor vain,
Love that foregoes you but to claim anew
  Beyond this passage of the gate of death,
 I charge you at the Judgment make it plain
  My love of you was life and not a breath.

12.

"Amor, che ne la mente mi ragiona."—Dante.
"Amor vien nel bel viso di costei."—Petrarca.

If there be any one can take my place
 And make you happy whom I grieve to grieve,
 Think not that I can grudge it, but believe
I do commend you to that nobler grace,
That readier wit than mine, that sweeter face;