Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer,
artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti,
artist, spiritual writer, 1564
On the Brink of Death.
Now hath my life across a stormy sea
Like a frail bark
reached that wide port where all
Are bidden, ere the
final reckoning fall
Of good and evil for eternity.
Now know I well how that fond phantasy
Which made my soul
the worshipper and thrall
Of earthly art, is
vain; how criminal
Is that which all men seek unwillingly.
Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed,
What are they when
the double death is nigh?
The one I know for
sure, the other dread.
Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest
My soul that turns
to His great love on high,
Whose arms to clasp
us on the cross were spread.