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Michelangelo - Sonnet LII - I do not need to look on outward forms
Identifier
024475
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Michelangelo – Sonnets [translated by Elizabeth Jennings]
Sonnet LII
I do not need to look on outward forms
Of beauty which must die. I gaze within
Using your sight, finding a peace which calms.
Bringing such love, you banish every sin.
Even if she whom God created is
Not perfect outwardly, I ask no more,
For even if her loveliness has flaws,
She far transcends what I have seen before.
That man who is consumed by what must die
Can never quench his passion. Though it seems
To last for ever, it is transitory.
From sense not love, unruly passions come
And kill the soul. Our feeling's sanctified
Even on earth, but more when we have died.