The Sonnets Of Tommaso Campanella - Against Hypocrites.

A poem by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Gli affetti di Pluton.


Deep in their hearts they hide the lusts of Hell:
Christ's name is written on their brow, that those
Who only view the husk, may not suppose
What guile and malice harbour in the shell.
O God! O Wisdom! Holy Fervour! Well
Of strength invincible to strike Thy foes!
Give me the force--my spirit burns and glows--
To strip those idols and to break their spell!
The zeal I bear unto Thy name benign,
The love I feel for truth sincere and pure,
When such men triumph, make me rend my hair.
How long shall folk this infamy endure--
That he should be held sacred, he divine,
Who strips e'en corpses in the graveyard bare?