Love
Sonnet CLXII (In Life): His Wounds Can Be Healed Only by Pity or Death
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
I alter day by day in hair and mien,
Yet shun not the old dangerous baits and dear,
Nor sever from the laurel, limed and green,
Which nor the scorching sun, nor fierce cold sear.
Dry shall the sea, the sky be starless seen,
Ere I shall cease to covet and to fear
Her lovely shadow, and--which ill I screen--
To like, yet loathe, the deep wound cherish'd here:
For never hope I respite from my pain,
From bones and nerves and flesh till I am free,
Unless mine enemy some pity deign,
Till things impossible accomplish'd be,
None but herself or death the blow can heal
Which Love from her bright eyes has left my heart to feel.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXII (In Life): His Wounds Can Be Healed Only by Pity or Death.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/194/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXII (In Life): His Wounds Can Be Healed Only by Pity or Death.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/194/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXX (In Life): He Complains of the Veil and Hand of Laura, That They Deprive Him of the Sight of Her Eyes
- Sonnet LXXXVIII (In Life): Her Kind and Gentle Salutation Thrills His Heart with Pleasure
- Sonnet CLII (In Life): He Compares Her to the Phoenix
- Sonnet CCXXIII (In Life): The Eyes of Laura Are the School of Virtue
- Sonnet LXI (In Death): He Prays That, in Reward for His Long and Virtuous Attachment, She Will Visit Him in Death