Love

Sonnet CLXIV (In Life): Her Hair and Eyes

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

The heavenly airs from yon green laurel roll'd,
Where Love to Phoebus whilom dealt his stroke,
Where on my neck was placed so sweet a yoke,
That freedom thence I hope not to behold,
O'er me prevail, as o'er that Arab old
Medusa, when she changed him to an oak;
Nor ever can the fairy knot be broke
Whose light outshines the sun, not merely gold;
I mean of those bright locks the curlèd snare
Which folds and fastens with so sweet a grace
My soul, whose humbleness defends alone.
Her mere shade freezes with a cold despair
My heart, and tinges with pale fear my face;
And oh! her eyes have power to make me stone.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXIV (In Life): Her Hair and Eyes.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/196/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXIV (In Life): Her Hair and Eyes.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/196/.

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