L’Olive augmentée/12

XI. 'Spirit divine, whom the honoured band'

L’Olive ~ XII written by Joachim Du Bellay translated by A. S. Kline

L’Olive - XII ‘Si nostre vie est moins qu'une journée’.

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XII
’If our life is less than a single day'

If our life is less than a single day
In eternity, and the year in its turn
Wastes our days, without hope of return,
If everything is born to decay,
 
Why my captive soul your dreams display?
Why for the shadow of our day so burn,
If for flight to a clearer one you yearn,
Graced with wings to help you on your way?
 
There, is the good, every soul’s desire.
There, the rest to which all men aspire,
There, is the love, there the delight in store.
 
There, O my soul, in highest heaven clear,
There you may realise the Idea
Of the beauty, that in this world I adore.