Love
Sonnet CXLIX (In Life): Love and Jealousy
Translated by Rev. Francis Wrangham (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
'Tis Love's caprice to freeze the bosom now
With bolts of ice, with shafts of flame now burn;
And which his lighter pang, I scarce discern--
Or hope or fear, or whelming fire or snow.
In heat I shiver, and in cold I glow,
Now thrill'd with love, with jealousy now torn:
As if her thin robe by a rival worn,
Or veil, had screen'd him from my vengeful blow
But more 'tis mine to burn by night, by day;
And how I love the death by which I die,
Nor thought can grasp, nor tongue of bard can sing:
Not so my freezing fire--impartially
She shines to all; and who would speed his way
To that high beam, in vain expands his fluttering wing.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CXLIX (In Life): Love and Jealousy.” Translated by Rev. Francis Wrangham. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/181/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CXLIX (In Life): Love and Jealousy.” Translated by Rev. Francis Wrangham. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/181/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet X (In Life): To Stefano Colonna the Elder, Inviting Him to the Country
- Sonnet LXIII (In Life): Dialogue Between the Poet and His Eyes
- Sonnet CXXIV (In Life): He Recalls Her as He Saw Her When in Tears
- Sonnet CXCVII (In Life): He Rejoices at Participating in Her Sufferings
- Sonnet XXXVIII (In Death): Love and He Seek Laura, but Find No Traces of Her Except in the Sky