XXI.
After I had treated of Love in the above rhyme, the will came to me to speak further in praise of this most gentle lady words by which I would show how this Love is awakened by her, and how she not only awakens him there where he is sleeping, but there where he is not potentially she, marvellously working, makes him come; and I devised then this sonnet: —
Within her eyes my lady beareth Love,
So that whom she regards is gentle made;
All toward her turn, where’er her steps are stayed,
And whom she greets, his heart doth trembling move;
So that with face cast down, all pale to view,
For every fault of his he then doth sigh;
Anger and pride away before her fly: —
Assist me, dames, to pay her honor due.
All sweetness truly, every humble thought,
The heart of him who hears her speak doth hold;
Whence he is blessed who hath seen her erewhile.
What seems she when a little she doth smile
Cannot be kept in mind, cannot be told.
Such strange and gentle miracle is wrought.
This sonnet has three parts. In the first, I tell how this lady reduces this potentiality into act, as respects that most noble part, her eyes; and in the third, I tell how this same thing is effected as respects that most noble part, her mouth. And between the first and the third is a little part, which beseeches aid, as it were, for the preceding part and for the following, and begins here: “Assist me, dames.” The third begins here: “All sweetness.” The first is divided into three; for in the first I tell how she with power makes gentle that which she looks upon; and this is as much as to say that she brings Love potentially there where he is not. In the second, I tell how she brings Love into act in the hearts of all those upon whom she looks. In the third, I tell that which she then effects with power in their hearts. The second begins, “All toward;” the third, “And whom she greets.”
When, afterward, I say, “Assist me, dames,” I indicate to whom it is my intention to speak, calling upon these ladies to aid me to pay her honor. Then, when I say, “All sweetness,” I tell the same thing as has been said in the first part, according to two acts of her mouth, one of which is her most sweet speech, and the other her marvellous smile, except that I do not tell of this last how it works in the hearts of others, because the memory cannot retain it, nor its effects.