MY LADY LOOKS SO GENTLE AND SO PURE

by: Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

Y lady looks so gentle and so pure

When yielding salutation by the way,

That the tongue trembles and has naught to say,

And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure.

And still, amid the praise she hears secure

She walks with humbleness for her array;

Seeming a creature sent from Heaven to stay

On earth, and show a miracle made sure.

She is so pleasant in the eyes of men

That through the sight the inmost heart doth gain

A sweetness which needs proof to know it by:

And from between her lips there seems to move

A soothing essence that is full of love,

Saying for ever to the spirit, "Sigh!"

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