The Poetry Corner

The Sonnets Of Tommaso Campanella - To Ridolfo Di Bina.

By Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Senno ed Amor. Wisdom and love, O Bina, gave thee wings, Before the blossom of thy years had faded, To fly with Adam for thy guide, God-aided, Through many lands in divers journeyings. Pure virtue is thy guerdon: virtue brings Glory to thee, death to the foes degraded, Who through long years of darkness have invaded Thy Germany, mother of slaves not kings. Yet, gazing on heaven's book, heroic child, My soul discerns graces divine in thee:-- Leave toys and playthings to the crowd of fools! Do thou with heart fervent and proudly mild Make war upon those fraud-engendering schools! I see thee victor, and in God I see.