Love
Sonnet CX (In Life): He Likens Himself to the Insect Which, Flying into One's Eyes, Meets Its Death
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
As when at times in summer's scorching heats.
Lured by the light, the simple insect flies,
As a charm'd thing, into the passer's eyes,
Whence death the one and pain the other meets,
Thus ever I, my fatal sun to greet,
Rush to those eyes where so much sweetness lies
That reason's guiding hand fierce Love defies,
And by strong will is better judgment beat.
I clearly see they value me but ill,
And, for against their torture fails my strength.
That I am doom'd my life to lose at length:
But Love so dazzles and deludes me still,
My heart their pain and not my loss laments,
And blind, to its own death my soul consents.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CX (In Life): He Likens Himself to the Insect Which, Flying into One's Eyes, Meets Its Death.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/140/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CX (In Life): He Likens Himself to the Insect Which, Flying into One's Eyes, Meets Its Death.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/140/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXXIX (In Life): He Desires Again to Gaze on the Eyes of Laura
- Madrigale IV (In Life): A Prayer to Love That He Will Take Vengeance on the Scornful Pride of Laura
- Sonnet CLXIII (In Life): The Gentle Breeze (L' Aura) Recalls to Him the Time When He First Saw Her
- Sonnet II (In Death): He Bewails His Double Loss in the Deaths of Laura, and of Colonna
- Sonnet LXIX (In Death): He Prays Her to Appear Before Him in a Vision