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Tables of Contents for The Complete Poems of Michelangelo
Chapter/Section Title
Page #
Page Count
Preface
xvii
I The Long Beginning (1475--1532)
2
34
A man who's happy many a year, one hour
9
1
Brow burning, in cool gloom, as sundown shears
9
1
I was happy, with fate favoring, to abide
9
1
How joyfully it shows, the garland there
10
1
A goiter it seems I got from this backward craning
10
1
If any of those old proveebs, lord, make sense
11
1
Who's this that draws me forcibly to you?
11
1
O God, O God, O God, how can I be
11
1
He Who made all there is, made every part
12
1
Chalices hammered into sword and helmet!
12
1
How much less torment to breathe out my soul
12
1
How could I, since it's so
13
1
Fame keeps the epitaphs where they lie
13
1
The Day and the Night speak
13
1
Seeing I'm yours, I rouse me from afar
14
1
From one all loveliness and all allure
14
1
Rancorous heart, cruel, pitiless, though showing
14
1
Though shouldered from the road I chose when young
15
1
Fine lass or lady, they
15
1
Sweeter your face than grapes are, stewed to mush
15
1
Once born, death's our destination
16
1
What's to become of me? What's this you're doing
17
1
I was, for years and years now, wounded, killed
18
1
I made my eyes an entryway for poison
19
1
When with a clanking chain a master locks
19
1
Uproot a plant---there's no way it can seal
20
1
Flee from this Love, you lovers; flee the flame!
20
1
Because there's never a time I'm not enchanted
20
1
All rage, all misery, all show of strength
21
1
From eyes of my beloved one, come burning
21
1
Love in your eyes? No; life and death are there
21
1
I live for sinning, for the self that dies
22
1
Were it true that, besides my own, another's arms
22
1
Where my love lives is nowhere in my heart
23
1
The eyelid, shadowing, doesn't interfere
23
1
My lover stole my heart, just over there
24
1
In me there's only death; my life's in you
24
1
He who beguiles both time and death together
24
1
For a wound from the searing arrows Love lets fly
24
1
When blithely Love would lift me up to heaven
25
1
O noble soul, in whom, as mirrored, show
25
1
Pray tell me, Love, if what my eyes can see
26
1
My reason, out of sorts with me, deplores
26
1
When to that beauty that I saw before
27
1
It well may be, so vehement my sighing
27
1
If my rough hammer shapes the obdurate stone
28
1
When the occasioner of my many a sigh
28
1
Just as a flame, by wind and weather flailed
29
1
Your beauty, Love, stuns mortal reckonings
29
1
What's to become of her, long years from now
29
1
Alas! Alas! for the way I've been betrayed
29
1
Were one allowed to kill himself right here
30
1
Who rides by night on horseback, come the day
30
1
I do believe, if you were made of stone
31
3
Though quite expensive, look, I've bought you this
34
1
My death is what I live on; seems to me
34
1
If I'm more alive because love burns and chars me
34
2
II Three Loves (1532--1547)
36
100
If longings for the immortal, which exalt
47
1
If pure devotion, passion without stain
47
1
You know, my lord, that I too know you know
48
1
If, when it caught my eye first, I'd been bolder
48
1
Only with fire can men at forge and flue
49
1
So fond is fire of the frigid stone it waits
49
1
If fire can melt down steel and shatter flint
50
1
Just when I'm lost in adoration of you
50
1
Maybe, so I'd look kindly on souls in need
50
1
A new and more commendable delight
51
3
Then there's this giant---tall! So tall he can't
54
2
Nature knows what it's doing: one cruel as you
56
1
O cruel star, or say instead, cruel will
56
1
I have your letter, thank you, as received
57
1
If, through our eyes, the heart's seen in the face
58
1
Now that I'm banned and routed from the fire
58
1
I weep, I burn---burn up!---my heart thereby
59
1
Too much! the way he flaunts himself around
59
1
Whether or not the light I long for, sent
59
1
Supposing the passionate fire your eyes enkindle
60
1
From grief I cherished to a rueful laugh
60
1
Blissful spirit, thanks to whom new passion
61
1
I really believed, that first great day when, awed
61
1
In everything I see, the meaning's plain
62
1
Not even, in dreams sent soaring, can I imagine
62
1
What in your handsome face I see, my lord
63
1
From ink, from pen in hand we see outflow
63
1
Having, my friend, your letter here in hand
64
1
Already burdened with a heavy heart
65
2
I wish I'd want what I don't want, Lord, at all
67
1
By a face of fiery cold, I'm set aflame
68
1
Through your fine eyes I see such mellow light
68
1
I'm dearer to me, much more, than ever I was
69
1
So I can best endure
69
1
Although time presses hard and prods us on
70
1
Should the senses' rapturous burning override
70
1
Kindly to others, to itself unkind
71
1
Give back to my eyes their flow, O spring, O river
71
1
With all my heart I love you; if not so
72
1
With heart of sulphur, flesh of tinder too
72
1
Why ease the tension of this wild desire
72
1
What a chance I had! I should have, while I could
73
1
When heaven confirmed your brilliance, most of all
73
1
The night prevails where Phoebus---that's our sun
74
1
O night, comforting night, dark though you are
74
1
Every shut-in room or space, every covered one
75
1
The One Who made, and from utter nothing too
75
1
My gaze saw no mere mortal on the day
76
1
From heaven it ventured forth, there must return
76
1
Drawn to each lovely thing, my doting eyes
77
1
No rest here for the wicked, as folk say
77
1
Not always so prized and cherished by us all
77
1
I'm here to say you've given earth your all
78
1
My lady, if it's true
78
1
For a safe haven, for escape at last
78
1
No slightest chance on earth her heavenly eyes
79
1
Easily you confound
79
1
Wiles, guiles, smiles, gold and pearls, her gala ways
80
1
I wouldn't if I could, Love, check the urge
80
1
If right desire takes wing
80
1
Although my heart had often been aflame
81
1
From the first whimper to the expiring sigh
81
1
Time now good-byes were said
82
1
Just as you cannot not be lovely here
82
1
If fire, so quick to char
83
1
The more it seems I agonize, the more
83
1
My lady is so impetuous, devil-may-care
84
1
Such wealth of promise lies
84
1
If the soul, in truth, from body once set free
85
1
Not death so much, but its terror rescues me
85
1
The fear of death! Who'd shove
86
1
By light more brilliant of a star more bright
86
1
No doubt much peril lies
87
1
From beneath two arching brows
87
1
Whenever my past unrolls before these eyes
87
1
Life's final hours: brought there by many a year
88
1
O blessed souls, who high in heaven delight
88
1
With much of time and life gone, all the more
89
1
Flooded, the soul pours out
89
1
If, to rejoice, you crave our tears and woe
90
1
Humbly I bow my shoulders, bear the yoke
90
1
In lovelier and crueller flesh than yours
90
1
If the soul returns, that last
91
1
If I'm to believe my eyes now, your response
91
1
I think it may be, so
92
1
Life's quick and brief; the more my days fly by
92
1
At times I project ahead
92
1
If she rejoices in my tears, and you
93
1
Looks thrown away on others
93
1
Please tell me, Love, if that lady had a soul
94
1
I'd feel the more secure
94
1
I'll surely be thought a dullard in talent, art
95
1
Great mercy, my lady, as likely as great pain
95
1
Nothing the best of artists can conceive
96
1
As by subtracting, my lady, one creates
96
1
A mould's not alone in this
96
1
My lady, you raise me so
97
1
Your kindness to me, and the ways of fate
97
1
That whole way up to your brilliant diadem
98
1
Your merciful, sweet care
98
1
It seems, Love, out you've flung
99
1
To be less unworthy, my exalted lady
99
1
If obligated by so great a favor
100
1
What file's incessant bite
100
1
Now on the left foot shuffling, now the right
101
1
Hating myself, the more I run away
101
1
For a reliable guide in my vocation
102
1
If we constrain the eyes' easy response
102
1
My lady, these eyes see vividly---far, near
102
1
From where you triumphed in me, Love, right here
103
1
Because there's half of me which, heaven-born
103
1
Impassioned as I am
104
1
Great beauty scattering its brilliant flame
104
1
Among the memory of all lovely things
104
1
She's made her mind up, the
105
1
If a joyous heart makes beautiful the face
105
1
From what these eyes, my lady, see of you
106
1
So, Love, it hasn't healed, not even the least
106
1
No need at all for your angel loveliness
107
1
Bright in our minds, but in the dark earth stranded
107
1
Her beauty's alive in heaven! I believe her
107
1
If his bright eyes are closed and laid to rest
108
1
My fervent prayer, if any pity me
108
1
``So tell me, Death, why not possess some face
108
1
Death didn't wish to lay Cecchino low
108
1
Such brightness, under earth now, put to shame
108
1
My name meant ``Arms.'' But little help to me
108
1
Born, died. Now bedded by the churchyard wall
109
1
No way he who undid me can restore
109
1
Inside, his soul could not be outside too
109
1
If nature now deferred to death, dejected
109
1
Closed now his shining eyes, that dazzled so
109
1
Here I'm thought dead. Alive, I comforted
109
1
Souls rise alive from the body's sad last bed
110
1
If true (and it is) that with body's final breath
110
1
His beautiful eyes! I hardly saw them, only
110
1
Too early fallen asleep here, I'm alive
111
1
``If two hours' dying steals a hundred years
111
1
O lucky me, to look upon me dead!
111
1
My flesh turned earth, my bones turned naked shame
111
1
If it could be, to revive my life once more
111
1
Who grieve now at my grave, in vain they pray
112
1
Cold stone, none knows but you, my gaol forever
112
1
From clutch of clock and calendar now fled
112
1
One of the Bracci, I. Now, as you see
112
1
A Bracci born. From birth, born wailing, I'd
112
1
I'm dearer dead than ever I was, before
112
1
If death has buried here, hardly in leaf
113
1
From heaven my beauty, flawless and divine
113
1
I'm death's forever, who, that one forlorn
113
1
Gone under now, the sun you loved to greet
113
1
Why fallen so soon asleep? Not hard to tell
113
1
Peace, life---he found them in my open eyes
113
1
If, while I lived, a someone, eyes on me
114
1
No other handsome face such power possessed
114
1
Young Braccio's buried here. To mend a lack
114
1
His life gave yours rich reason for thanksgiving
114
1
Ashes to ashes, spirit to the sky
114
1
Within this tomb our handsome Braccio's laid
114
1
If Braccio's beauty, phoenix-like, could be
115
1
The sun of Braccio's under earth. The sun
115
1
A Bracci, I. Alive because I'm dead
115
1
Cecchino here has laid his body low
115
1
Braccio lies here. No less a tomb could show
115
1
Death stretched an arm, stole fruit not ripened yet.
115
1
Mere mortal once. Divine, though, born to be
116
1
Death shut those eyes, him too it shut below
116
1
A Bracci once. The soul in me withdrew
116
1
The soul lives on, I know it, lying here
116
1
Braccio retrieves from earth the mortal scrim
116
1
Earth lends us flesh, heaven lends the soul, the two
116
1
Be sure, my eyes, you know
117
1
To see that your famous beauty still endures
117
1
Too late for Love to set my heart aflame
117
1
No differently the guilty wretch hangs back
118
1
If, vulnerable from early youth, a heart
118
1
It's not enough, if it doesn't come from you
119
1
A man within a woman---no, I'd say
119
1
If by its heaven-sent power the mind conceives
120
1
To one of taste both flawless and robust
120
1
On earth, it's no unworthy soul that nurses
120
1
My lady, how comes it about---what all can see
121
1
This face, says art, alone
121
1
Through many a year and many a vain assay
121
1
As, working in hard stone to make the face
122
1
Whenever remembrance of the one I love
122
1
If sorrow makes one beautiful (it's said)
123
1
``Say the face I'm speaking of now, hers I mean
123
1
You revel in my torments, only you
124
1
To sleep, even more be made of stone: how these
124
1
Straight down from heaven, and in the flesh, he came
125
1
``Your beauty an angel's, Lady, you were meant
125
1
All there's to say of him, no way of saying
126
1
There's pleasure in great favors done, but hidden
126
1
Since I'm too obligated
127
1
Had I, when young, been leery of the glow
127
1
Though bent with age, to me
128
1
Your lovely eyes, now bent
128
1
Suppose a lady has no other graces
129
1
Why only at long last, why next to never
129
1
Although it's amply true your human face
130
1
No question but, when my desire's aflame
130
1
Not true that it's always grim with mortal sin
131
1
Love long delayed comes kindly, by fortune's favor
131
1
If a god, Love, can't you do
132
1
A woman's beauty, new
132
1
As I've carried in my heart this many a year
133
1
So it wouldn't need to retrieve the total sum
133
1
What wonder that---seeing how, beside your fire
134
2
III The Four Last Things (1547--1564)
136
21
I'm packaged in here like the pulp in fruit
143
1
Because age steals away
144
1
Now armed with biting ice, now tongues of fire
145
1
You give me only what you're glutted with
145
1
I fed on you, and with you, many a year
145
1
Bring back the day the reins hung slack and free
145
1
Though always one and the same, the one same who
146
1
Oh let me see You everywhere I go!
146
1
Enclosed and hidden in a monstrous stone
147
1
Whatever the eye finds lovely, in a flash
147
1
Though you with line and color excel, securing
148
1
If leaves aren't what you're wanting
148
1
Power of a lovely face impels me where?
148
1
Confused, with itself at odds, soul fails to find
148
1
Time was my fire burned high, yes, even on ice
149
1
In such servility! and all so boring!
149
1
The springtime, fresh and green, can never guess
149
1
If, in Your name, some image comes to mind
149
1
So now it's over, my day's long voyage, through
150
1
My infinite thoughts, so many gone awry
150
1
Day in, day out, from childhood long ago
150
1
The world and all its fables long ago
150
1
There's nothing lower on earth, of less account
151
1
Rid of this nagging nattering cadaver
151
1
I think, indeed know well, some crushing sin
152
1
How very sweet indeed the prayers I'd say
152
1
Burdened with years and crapulous with sin
152
1
It leaves me plunged in gloom and pain---yet dear
153
1
Assured of death, of its timing, though, not so
153
1
If our very thirst for longer life bids fair
154
1
Though years and years in dour allurement lapped
154
1
With no less joy than grief and consternation
154
1
For the sugar, for the mule, those candles too
155
1
By merit of grace, the cross, and all we've suffered
155
1
My eyes are saddened by so much they see
156
1
One way remains to loose me yet, dear Lord
156
1
The Text of the Poems
157
2
Translating Poetry
159
6
Acknowledgments
165
2
Notes
167
18
Bibliography
185