Dante Gabriel Rossetti | Pictures and poems | The portrait

O Lord of all compassionate control,

O Love! let this my lady's picture glow

⁠Under my hand to praise her name, and show

Even of her inner self the perfect whole:

That he who seeks her beauty's furthest goal,

⁠Beyond the light that the sweet glances throw

⁠And refluent wave of the sweet smile, may know

The very sky and sea-line of her soul.

Lo! it is done. Above the enthroning throat

⁠The mouth's mould testifies of voice and kiss,

⁠⁠The shadowed eyes remember and foresee.

Her face is made her shrine. Let all men note

⁠That in all years (O Love, thy gift is this!)

⁠⁠They that would look on her must come to me.

"Love, which is quickly kindled in the gentle heart, seized this man for the fair form that was taken from me, the manner still hurts me. Love which absolves no beloved one from loving, seized me so strongly with his charm that, as thou seest, it does not leave me yet!"

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 - 9 April 1882) British poet, illustrator, painter and translator

"Quand'è ch'io meglio ti vedo, mia amata? Quando, nella luce, gli spiriti dei miei occhi dinanzi al tuo volto - loro altare - celebrano il culto dell'Amore che grazie a te si rivela, o quando nelle ore vespertine - e siamo soli - baciato forte, ed eloquente nel muto rispondere, il tuo volto traluce nell'ombra del crepuscolo e solo la mia anima vede la tua come sua?"

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Londra, 12 maggio 1828 - Birchington-on-Sea, 10 aprile 1882)

Pittore e poeta britannico, tra i fondatori del movimento artistico dei Preraffaelliti.

Sono già stato qui,

⁠ma quando o come non so dire:

⁠conosco quell'erba davanti alla porta,

⁠quel dolce intenso odore,

⁠quel rumore sospirante, quelle luci attorno alla costa..."

I have been here before,

⁠But when or how I cannot tell:

⁠I know the grass beyond the door,

⁠The sweet keen smell,

⁠The sighing sound, the lights around the shore..."