Observations placeholder
Michelangelo - Sonnet LXV - Already now my life has run its course
Identifier
024483
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Monument to Michelangelo, 1570 - Giorgio Vasari
A description of the experience
Michelangelo – Sonnets [translated by Elizabeth Jennings]
Sonnet LXV
TO GIORGIO VASARI
Already now my life has run its course,
And, like a fragile boat on a rough sea,
I reach the place where everyone must cross
And give account of life's activity.
Now I know well it was a fantasy
That made me think art could be made into
An idol or a king. Though all men do
This, they do it half-unwillingly.
The loving thoughts, so happy and so vain,
Are finished now. A double death comes near -
The one is sure, the other is a threat.
Painting and sculpture cannot any more
Quieten the soul that turns to God again,
To God who, on the cross, for us was set.
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Painting of Michelangelo by Giorgio Vasaro