Love
Sonnet CII (In Life): The Contradictions of Love
Translated by Chaucer (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
If no love is, O God, what fele I so?
And if love is, what thing and which is he?
If love be gode, from whence cometh my woe?
If it be wicke, a wonder thinketh me
When every torment and adversite
That cometh of him may to me savory thinke:
For aye more thurst I the more that I drinke.
And if that at my owne lust I brenne,
From whence cometh my wailing and my pleinte?
If harme agre me whereto pleine I thenne?
I not nere why unwery that I feinte.
O quickè deth, O surelè harme so quainte,
How may I see in me such quantite,
But if that I consent that so it be?
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CII (In Life): The Contradictions of Love.” Translated by Chaucer. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/131/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CII (In Life): The Contradictions of Love.” Translated by Chaucer. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/131/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Canzone IX (In Life): In Praise of Laura's Eyes: They Lead Him to Contemplate the Path of Life
- Ballata VI (In Life): Though She Be Less Severe, He is Still Not Contented and Tranquil at Heart
- Sonnet CLXXXVI (In Life): Not Finding Her with Her Friends, He Asks Them Why She is Absent
- Sonnet XXVII (In Death): He Comforts Himself with the Hope That She Hears Him
- Sonnet LIX (Part I)