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Those who live in quiet peace with God ought not hesitate before life's battle, ought not share the world's anxieties--can frost hurt those drawn into the warm light of truth, embraced by God? This life's heavy burden cannot crush the bold, swift, brilliant spirit who flies apart, insults can't shame silence, or hurt someone who prays more for those who mistake and wander. It's useless to throw darts at thick-walled stone towers built into, emerging from rock which secures, resists all, useless to spread traps cunningly in this dark, lowering, stagnant air against the soaring bird who passed into heaven. |
An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition |
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Notes: From V XV:175. See also B S1:38:104; no MSs; Valgrisi 38. Translation: Lawley 62-63. According to Lawley (and others, e.g., Roland Bainton and the studies of the evangelicals and VC's Valdesian poetry), this sonnet is on Bernardino Ochino's final flight. Key |
