"To the Supreme Being" by Michelangelo

On this day in 1475, according to the Associated Press, "Italian artist and poet Michelangelo was born in Caprese in the Republic of Florence." Here is a sonnet that he wrote, a sonnet translated, from the Italian, by English poet William Wordsworth.


TO THE SUPREME BEING

The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the spirit give by which I pray:
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
Which of its native self can nothing feed:
Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,
Which quickens only where Thou say'st it may;
Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way,
No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.
Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread;
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,
That I may have the power to sing of Thee,
And sound Thy praises everlastingly.

Michelangelo (1475-1564)