Sonnet - Giovanni Quirino

He commends the work of Dante's life, then drawing to 
its close; and deplores his own deficiencies.

Glory to God and to God's Mother chaste,
Dear friend, is all the labour of thy days:
Thou art as he who evermore uplays
That heavenly wealth which the worm cannot waste:
So shalt thou render back with interest
The precious talent given thee by God's grace:
While I, for my part, follow in their ways
Who by the cares of this world are possess'd.
For, as the shadow of the earth doth make
10 The moon's globe dark, when so she is debarr'd
From the bright rays which lit her in the sky,—
So now, since thou my sun didst me forsake,
(Being distant from me,) I grow dull and hard,
Even as a beast of Epicurus' sty.

---

Giovanni Quirino (13th Century) Italy
Translated by Daniel Gabriel Rosetti