Love

Sonnet CLIX (In Life): To Love, on Laura Walking Abroad

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

Translated by J. H. Merivale (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

Here stand we, Love, our glory to behold--
How, passing Nature, lovely, high, and rare!
Behold! what showers of sweetness falling there!
What floods of light by heaven to earth unroll'd!
How shine her robes, in purple, pearls, and gold,
So richly wrought, with skill beyond compare!
How glance her feet!--her beaming eyes how fair
Through the dark cloister which these hills enfold!
The verdant turf, and flowers of thousand hues
Beneath yon oak's old canopy of state,
Spring round her feet to pay their amorous duty.
The heavens, in joyful reverence, cannot choose
But light up all their fires, to celebrate
Her praise, whose presence charms their awful beauty.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLIX (In Life): To Love, on Laura Walking Abroad.” Translated by J. H. Merivale. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/191/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLIX (In Life): To Love, on Laura Walking Abroad.” Translated by J. H. Merivale. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/191/.

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