TOO much good luck no less than misery <br />May kill a man condemned to mortal pain, <br />If, lost to hope and chilled in every vein, <br />A sudden pardon comes to set him free. <br />Thus thy unwonted kindness shown to me <br />Amid the gloom where only sad thoughts reign, <br />With too much rapture bringing light again, <br />Threatens my life more than that agony. <br />Good news and bad may bear the self-same knife; <br />And death may follow both upon their flight; <br />For hearts that shrink or swell, alike will break. <br />Let then thy beauty, to preserve my life, <br />Temper the source of this supreme delight, <br />Lest joy so poignant slay a soul so weak.<br /><br />Michelangelo Buonarroti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/joy-may-kill/
