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The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Edited with Preface and Notes by William M. Rossetti: Revised and Enlarged Edition

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MAESTRO MIGLIORE, DA FIORENZA
  
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MAESTRO MIGLIORE, DA FIORENZA

Sonnet

He declares all Love to be Grief

Love taking leave, my heart then leaveth me,
And is enamour'd even while it would shun;
For I have looked so long upon the sun
That the sun's glory is now in all I see.
To its first will unwilling may not be
This heart (though by its will its death be won),
Having remembrance of the joy forerun:
Yea, all life else seems dying constantly.
Ay and alas! in love is no relief,
For any man who loveth in full heart,
That is not rather grief than gratefulness.
Whoso desires it, the beginning is grief;
Also the end is grief, most grievous smart;
And grief is in the middle, and is call'd grace.