XXXV.
On that day on which the year was complete since this lady was made one of the denizens of life eternal, I was seated in a place where, having her in mind, I was drawing an angel upon certain tablets. And while I was drawing it, I turned my eyes and saw at my side men to whom it was meet to do honor. They were looking on what I did, and, as was afterwards told me, they had been there already some time before I became aware of it. When I saw them I rose, and, saluting them, said, “Another was just now with me, and on that account I was in thought.” And when they had gone away, I returned to my work, namely, that of drawing figures of angels; and, while doing this, a thought came to me of saying words in rhyme, as if for an anniversary poem of her, and of addressing those persons who had come to me. And I devised then this sonnet that begins, “The gentle lady,” the which has two beginnings; and therefore I will divide it according to one and the other.
I say that, according to the first, this sonnet has three parts: in the first, I tell that this lady was already in my memory; in the second, I tell what Love thereupon did to me; in the third, I tell of the effects of Love. The second begins here: “Love, who;” the third, here: “Lamenting they from out.” This part is divided into two: in the one, I say that all my sighs went forth speaking; in the other, I tell how some said certain words different from the others. The second begins here: “But those.” In this same way it is divided according to the other beginning, except that in the first part I tell when this lady had so come to my mind, and this I do not tell in the other.
FIRST BEGINNING.
The gentle lady to my mind had come,
Who, for the sake of her exceeding worth,
Had by the Lord Most High been ta’en from earth
To that calm heaven where Mary hath her home.
SECOND BEGINNING.
That gentle lady to my mind in thought
Had come, because of whom Love’s tears are shed,
Just at the time when, by her influence led,
To see what I was doing ye were brought.
Love, who within my mind did her perceive,
Was wakened up within my wasted heart,
And said unto my sighs, “Go forth! depart!”
Whereon each one in sorrow took its leave.
Lamenting they from out my breast did go,
And uttering a voice that often led
The grievous tears unto my saddened eyes;
But those which issued with the greatest woe,
”O high intelligence!” they, going, said,
”To-day makes up the year since thou to heaven didst
rise.”