Translations from Camoens; and Other Poets, with Original Poetry/Chi vuol veder quantunque può natura

by Petrarch

PETRARCH.

Chi vuol veder quantunque può natura.

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THOU that wouldst mark, in form of human birth,
All heaven and nature's perfect skill combined,
Come gaze on her, the daystar of the earth,
Dazzling, not me alone, but all mankind:

And haste! for Death, who spares the guilty long,
First calls the brightest and the best away;
And to her home, amidst the cherub-throng,
The angelic mortal flies, and will not stay!

Haste! and each outward charm, each mental grace,
In one consummate form thine eye shall trace,
Model of loveliness, for earth too fair!
Then thou shalt own, how faint my votive lays,
My spirit dazzled by perfection's blaze—
But if thou still delay, for long regret prepare.