Love

Sonnet LXXXIX (In Life): He Relates to His Friend Sennuccio His Unhappiness, and the Varied Mood of Laura

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

anonymous (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

To thee, Sennuccio, fain would I declare,
To sadden life, what wrongs, what woes I find:
Still glow my wonted flames; and, though resign'd
To Laura's fickle will, no change I bear.
All humble now, then haughty is my fair;
Now meek, then proud; now pitying, then unkind:
Softness and tenderness now sway her mind;
Then do her looks disdain and anger wear.
Here would she sweetly sing, there sit awhile,
Here bend her step, and there her step retard;
Here her bright eyes my easy heart ensnared;
There would she speak fond words, here lovely smile;
There frown contempt;--such wayward cares I prove
By night, by day; so wills our tyrant Love!

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LXXXIX (In Life): He Relates to His Friend Sennuccio His Unhappiness, and the Varied Mood of Laura.” Translated by anonymous. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/111/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LXXXIX (In Life): He Relates to His Friend Sennuccio His Unhappiness, and the Varied Mood of Laura.” Translated by anonymous. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/111/.

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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)