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You and I cannot know by argument why God placed you on the ark, and made you the father of a better people: these are among the mysteries of things hid even from God's spies. Well, He looked on you, and spoke and acted towards you as the one good and just man on earth, the kind of gift that stirs and inflames the world's hate, envy, and love. And when they loathed and then scorned you, God's angry waters drowned them, washed it all away, and left you in peace lovingly. Inside the fury of the storm, the waves were kind to you, sheltered, no, embraced you, your good works had given God that much joy. |
An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition |
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Notes: From V XCVII:257. See also B S1:112:141; MSs Ve2, L, V2; Valgrisi 113 Translation: Bainton 206. A second in a series of three sonnets to Noah. Reference: Genesis 5-10. A plethora of illustrations, paintings, legends, and dramatic scenes and stories had grown up around Noah. Michelangelo included depictions of Noah's sacrifice, drunkenness after the Flood and unhappy contemporaries on the Sistine ceiling; Giovanni Bellini and Benozzo Gozzoli depicted the scene realistically. Key |
