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God's emperor, wise, wary, our link with Christ, shepherd, father, on our behalf rouse your invincible armies, one ray of light from you illumines and drives the blind from your church, Christ's bride and our real mother; your light will renew and again give birth to works and deeds whose age-old and primal beauty are born of loving compassion. Your scattered, frightened flock seeks food but finds, feeds on bitter grass; and when it turns back it hears inside the gates the loud clangor of arms. And if one, allowed by you, scorns, holds war as vile, prefers peace, this world drains each skill, all cunning to rob her of it. |
An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition |
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Notes: From V CXXXVI:296. See also B S1:91:130; no MSs; Valgrisi 92. A sonnet to a Pope, probably Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici), just after the Sack of Rome in 1527. Visconti places this one just before VC's sonnet to Peter "Veggio d'alga e di fango omai si carca". Key |
