Love
Ballata II (In Life): He Invites His Eyes to Feast Themselves on Laura
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
My wearied eyes! while looking thus
On that fair fatal face to us,
Be wise, be brief, for--hence my sighs--
Already Love our bliss denies.
Death only can the amorous track
Shut from my thoughts which leads them back
To the sweet port of all their weal;
But lesser objects may conceal
Our light from you, that meaner far
In virtue and perfection are.
Wherefore, poor eyes! ere yet appears,
Already nigh, the time of tears,
Now, after long privation past,
Look, and some comfort take at last.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Ballata II (In Life): He Invites His Eyes to Feast Themselves on Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/13/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Ballata II (In Life): He Invites His Eyes to Feast Themselves on Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/13/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXIV (In Life): On Laura Dangerously Ill
- Canzone XI (In Life): Enigmas
- Sonnet CXLV (In Life): He Hears the Voice of Reason, but Cannot Obey
- Sonnet CCXIII (In Life): He Cannot Believe in Her Death, but If True, He Prays God to Take Him Also from Life
- Ballata I (In Death): His Grief at Surviving Her is Mitigated by the Consciousness That She Now Knows His Heart