The Candlebearer.

1 Resistance? No. To her Highness, her most Illustrious and most Reverend Ladyship?
No, no. By my faith, there is no prince, cardinal, king, emperor, or
Pope who shall take this candle from my hand in this most solemn
offertory. It belongs to you, to you it is given, and you shall either hang it in
5 your study, or fix it in your candlestick. To my superlatively
learned, wise, beautiful, and generous Lady Morgana. You are the cultivator
of the field of my soul; after having broken the clods of its
hardness and refined its style—so that the dusty fog
raised by the wind of levity might not offend the eyes of this one or
10 that one—with divine water that flows from the fountain of your spirit, you
watered my intellect. Therefore, at the time when we could first touch hands,
I addressed to you my Gay Thoughts. Next, The Trunk of Living Water.
Now, while you rejoice in the bosom of Abraham, and I,
without waiting for that help of yours which used to refresh my tongue,
15 desperately burn and sparkle, a great Chaos—all too
envious of my well-being—intervenes between us. To show you
that this same chaos cannot prevent my love, with some proper hostage and
material gift, from crossing despite its rotten malice: here is the candle
being offered to you by this Candlebearer who departs from me. This candle,
20 in this country where I find myself, may somewhat illuminate certain shadows of
the Ideas, which in truth frighten the beasts, and as if they were
Dantean devils, cause the asses to stay far behind. And in that homeland
where you are, it will allow many to contemplate my soul, and let them
see that it is not entirely discarded. Greet on my behalf that other
25 Candlebearer of flesh and bone, of whom it is said that original: "Regnum Dei non possidebunt" they shall not possess the kingdom of God; and tell him not to rejoice so much that my memory is said to be
trampled there by the force of pigs' feet and the kicks
of asses; for by this hour the asses' ears are cropped, and
the pigs will pay me for it some December. And let him not rejoice so much
30 with that saying of his, original: "abiit in regionem longinquam" "he went into a far country." For if it should
ever happen that the heavens grant that I may effectively say,
original: "Surgam et ibo" "I will arise and go," then that fatted calf will undoubtedly be part of
our feast.
In the meantime, let him live and manage himself, and see to making himself fatter
35 than he is; because on the other hand, I hope to recover the lard where I
lost the greens. If not under one cloak, then under another. If not in
one life, then in another. Remember, my Lady, what I believe
need not be taught to you: Time takes everything and gives everything. Everything
changes, nothing is annihilated. There is only One who cannot change; only One is
40 eternal, and can persevere eternally as one, similar, and the same. With