"Love the Light-Giver" by Michelangelo

LOVE THE LIGHT-GIVER
by Michelangelo Buonarroti

To Tommaso De' Cavalieri

Veggio co' bei vostri occhi.

With your fair eyes a charming light I see,
    For which my own blind eyes would peer in vain;
    Stayed by your feet, the burden I sustain
    Which my lame feet find all too strong for me;
Wingless upon your pinions forth I fly;
    Heavenward your spirit stirreth me to strain;
    E'en as you will, I blush and blanch again,
    Freeze in the sun, burn 'neath a frosty sky.
Your will includes and is the lord of mine;
    Life to my thoughts within your heart is given;
    My words begin to breathe upon your breath:
Like to the moon am I, that cannot shine
    Alone; for lo! our eyes see nought in heaven
    Save what the living sun illumineth.


This poem is in the public domain. "Love the Light-Giver" was published in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti (T. B. Mosher, 1897), translated by John Addington Symonds.

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy. One of the most famous artists of the Italian Renaissance, he wrote close to 75 finished sonnets and about 95 madrigals, which were later compiled into translated collections. He died on February 18, 1564, in Rome, Italy.

"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)

"In the Marble Quarry" by James L. Dickey : The Poetry Foundation

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." So said Michelangelo (1475-1564) of his Angel.

Angel by Michelangelo

Read the poem "In the Marble Quarry" by American poet, novelist and critic James L. Dickey (1923-1997). In that poem of his he mentions Michelangelo.

Quotation: Michael Logan on Michelangelo's David

MICHELANGELO'S DAVID

     Michelangelo, it is said, did not believe that he created his famous statue of David but, rather, that he'd chipped away needless stone to release a masterpiece that was already there.

     MICHAEL LOGAN

     in TV Guide (August 10-16, 2002)

David by Michelangelo (1475-1564)