Love

Sonnet XIII (In Life): On Quitting Laura

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

With weary frame which painfully I bear,
I look behind me at each onward pace,
And then take comfort from your native air,
Which following fans my melancholy face;
The far way, my frail life, the cherish'd fair
Whom thus I leave, as then my thoughts retrace,
I fix my feet in silent pale despair,
And on the earth my tearful eyes abase.
At times a doubt, too, rises on my woes,
"How ever can this weak and wasted frame
Live from life's spirit and one source afar?"
Love's answer soon the truth forgotten shows--
"This high pure privilege true lovers claim,
Who from mere human feelings franchised are!"

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XIII (In Life): On Quitting Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/14/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XIII (In Life): On Quitting Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/14/.

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