Love
Sonnet LXXXVII (In Life): He is Bewildered at the Unexpected Arrival of Laura
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
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.
Cite this poem
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/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Canzone VII (In Life): He Would Console Himself with Song, but is Constrained to Weep
- Sonnet CXV (In Life): Her Looks Both Comfort and Check Him
- Sonnet CLXXXIV (In Life): The Charms of Her Countenance and Voice
- Sonnet XXV (In Death): His Poems Were Written Only to Soothe His Own Grief: Otherwise He Would Have Laboured to Make Them More Deserving of the Fame They Have Acquired
- Canzone VIII (In Death): To the Virgin Mary