The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti Edited with Preface and Notes by William M. Rossetti: Revised and Enlarged Edition |
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The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti | ||
I
TO DANTE ALIGHIERI
Sonnet
He interprets Dante Alighieri's Dream, related in the first Sonnet of the Vita Nuova
Of that wherein thou art a questionerConsidering, I make answer briefly thus,
Good friend, in wit but little prosperous:
And from my words the truth thou shalt infer,—
So hearken to thy dream's interpreter.
If, sound of frame, thou soundly canst discuss
In reason,—then, to expel this overplus
Of vapours which hath made thy speech to err,
See that thou lave and purge thy stomach soon.
But if thou art afflicted with disease,
Know that I count it mere delirium.
Thus of my thought I write thee back the sum:
Nor my conclusions can be changed from these
Till to the leach thy water I have shown.
The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti | ||