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If only, in the terrifying winds and raw air, the bleak continual storm of this tormented hard-pressed world, I could enter the ark God made Noah--shark-filled waters make all other boats useless--or, with the Hebrews, cross safely through the sea God parted, boldly push myself forward, reach the shore, freed of my burdens, and sing oh so gaily, oh so gratefully--or with Peter when I falter feel God's hand still, lift my heart above the restless heaving waves. And if I'm not up to these, God does not withdraw His grace, it's never over, He's never reluctant, grudging. |
An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition |
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Notes: From V XCVIII:258. See also B S1:113:141; MSs L, Ve2, V2; Valrisi 114. Translation: Roscoe 100. The third and last in a series of three to Noah. Reference: Genesis 5-10. A plethora of illustrations, paintings, legends, and dramatic scenes and stories had grown up around Noah. Michelangelo included a depictions of Noah's sacrifice, drunkenness after the Flood and his unhappy contemporaries on the Sistine ceiling; Giovanni Bellini and Benozzo Gozzoli depicted the scene realistically. Key |
