Love

Sonnet LXXXVII (In Life): He is Bewildered at the Unexpected Arrival of Laura

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

As Love his arts in haunts familiar tried,
Watchful as one expecting war is found,
Who all foresees and guards the passes round,
I in the armour of old thoughts relied:
Turning, I saw a shadow at my side
Cast by the sun, whose outline on the ground
I knew for hers, who--be my judgment sound--
Deserves in bliss immortal to abide.
I whisper'd to my heart, Nay, wherefore fear?
But scarcely did the thought arise within
Than the bright rays in which I burn were here.
As thunders with the lightning-flash begin,
So was I struck at once both blind and mute,
By her dear dazzling eyes and sweet salute.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LXXXVII (In Life): He is Bewildered at the Unexpected Arrival of Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/109/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LXXXVII (In Life): He is Bewildered at the Unexpected Arrival of Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/109/.

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