Love
Sonnet CXL (In Life): The Sweets and Bitters of Love
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
Marking of those bright eyes the sun serene
Where reigneth Love, who mine obscures and grieves,
My hopeless heart the weary spirit leaves
Once more to gain its paradise terrene;
Then, finding full of bitter-sweet the scene,
And in the world how vast the web it weaves.
A secret sigh for baffled love it heaves,
Whose spurs so sharp, whose curb so hard have been.
By these two contrary and mix'd extremes,
With frozen or with fiery wishes fraught,
To stand 'tween misery and bliss she seems:
Seldom in glad and oft in gloomy thought,
But mostly contrite for its bold emprize,
For of like seed like fruit must ever rise!
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CXL (In Life): The Sweets and Bitters of Love.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/172/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CXL (In Life): The Sweets and Bitters of Love.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/172/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXIX (In Life): He Prays for Death, but in Vain
- Sonnet LXXXVI (In Life): When Love Disturbs Him, He Calms Himself by Thinking of the Eyes and Words of Laura
- Sonnet CLIII (In Life): The Most Famous Poets of Antiquity Would Have Sung Her Only, Had They Seen Her
- Sonnet CCXXI (In Life): Thinking Always of Laura, It Pains Him to Remember Where She is Left
- Sestina I (In Death): In His Misery He Desires Death the More He Remembers His Past Contentment and Comfort