Guido, an image of my lady dwells
At San Michele, in Orto, consecrate,
And daily worshipped. Fair, in holy state,
She listens to the tale each sinner tells.
And among them who come to her, who ails
The most, on him the most does blessing fall;
She bids the fiend men's bodies abdicate;
Over the curse of blindness she prevails,
And heals sick languors in the public squares....
(_Transl. by_ D.G. ROSSETTI.)
And Guido Orlandi replies to him from the ecclesiastical standpoint, as
to a lost man: "Had'st thou been speaking of Mary, thou would'st have
spoken the truth. But now I must bewail thy errors."
A complete blending of sensuality and Mary-worship was achieved in an
Italian poem of the fifteenth century. The author of this poem addressed
Mary as "queen of my heart," and "blossom of loveliness," and goes on to
say: "I can tell by your gestures and your face that you respond to my
love; when you look at me, you smile, and when you sigh, your eyes are
full of tenderness.
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