Whatever while the thought comes over me That I may not again Behold that lady whom I mourn for now, About my heart my mind brings constantly So much of extreme pain That I say, Soul of mine, why stayest thou? Truly the anguish, Soul, that we must bow Beneath, until we win out of this life, Gives me full oft a fear that trembleth: So that I call on Death Even as on Sleep one calleth after strife, Saying, Come unto me. Life showeth grim And bare; and if one dies, I envy him. For ever, among all my sighs which burn, There is a piteous speech That clamours upon death continually: Yea, unto him doth my whole spirit turn Since first his hand did reach My lady’s life with most foul cruelty. But from the height of woman’s fairness, she, Going up from us with the joy we had, Grew perfectly and spiritually fair; That so she spreads even there A light of Love which makes the Angels glad, And even unto their subtle minds can bring A certain awe of profound marvelling. On that day which fulfilled the year since my lady had been made of the citizens of eternal life, remembering me of her as I sat alone, I betook myself to draw the resemblance of an angel upon certain tablets. And while I did thus, chancing to turn my head, I perceived that some were standing beside me to whom I should have given courteous welcome, and that they were observing what I did: also I learned afterwards that they had been there a while before I perceived them. Perceiving whom, I arose for salutation, and said: “Another was with me.”[29] [29] Thus according to some texts. The majority, however, add the words, “And therefore was I in thought:” but the shorter speech is perhaps the more forcible and pathetic. Afterwards, when they had left me, I set myself again to mine occupation, to wit, to the drawing figures of angels: in doing which, I conceived to write of this matter in rhyme, as for her anniversary, and to address my rhymes unto those who had just left me. It was then that I wrote the sonnet which saith, “That lady;” and as this sonnet hath two commencements, it behoveth me to divide it with both of them here. _I say that, according to the first, this sonnet has three parts. In the first, I say that this lady was then in my memory. In the second, I tell what Love therefore did with me. In the third, I speak of the effects of Love. The second begins here, “Love knowing;” the third here, “Forth went they.” This part divides into two. In the one, I say that all my sighs issued speaking. In the other, I say how some spoke certain words different from the others. The second begins here, “And still.” In this same manner is it divided with the other beginning, save that, in the first part, I tell when this lady had thus come into my mind, and this I say not in the other._