On a Squinting Poetess
To no one Muse does she her glance confine,
But has an eye, at once, to all the Nine!
To …. …
Maria pur quando vuol, non è bisogna mutar ni faccia ni voce per esser un Angelo.1
Die when you will, you need not wear
At Heaven’s Court a form more fair
Than Beauty here on earth has given;
Keep but the lovely looks we see—
The voice we hear—and you will be
An angel ready-made for Heaven!
Notes
1 The words addressed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury to the beautiful Nun at Murano.—See his Life.