Age cannot fade the beauty God has given.
And the conviction that only the idea of eternal beauty has any value,
and that all earthly things are as nothing before it, became stronger
and more tormenting. One instance from many:
As heat from fire, from loveliness divine
The mind that worships what recalls the sun,
From whence she sprang, can be divided never.
(_Transl._ by J.A. SYMONDS.)
In the same way he realised the futility of earthly love compared to
metaphysical love:
The one love soars, the other downward tends,
The soul lights this while that the senses stir.
And:
The highest beauty only I desire.
It is extraordinary, however, that even this ecstatic adorer vaguely
suspected that he himself might be the creator of the beauty which he
saw in his mistress. In a sonnet he asks Cupid whether her beauty
really exists, or whether it is a delusion of his senses, and he
receives the reply:
The beauty thou discernest all is hers;
But grows in radiance as it soars on high.
Pages:
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363