Love
Sonnet CLXV (In Life): His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair
Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
The pleasant gale, that to the sun unplaits
And spreads the gold Love's fingers weave, and braid
O'er her fine eyes, and all around her head,
Fetters my heart, the wishful sigh creates:
No nerve but thrills, no artery but beats,
Approaching my fair arbiter with dread,
Who in her doubtful scale hath ofttimes weigh'd
Whether or death or life on me awaits;
Beholding, too, those eyes their fires display,
And on those shoulders shine such wreaths of hair,
Whose witching tangles my poor heart ensnare.
But how this magic's wrought I cannot say;
For twofold radiance doth my reason blind,
And sweetness to excess palls and o'erpowers my mind.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXV (In Life): His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/197/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXV (In Life): His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/197/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet V (In Life): He Plays upon the Name Laureta or Laura
- Sonnet LVIII (In Life): He Desires Only That Memmi Had Been Able to Impart Speech to His Portrait of Laura
- Sonnet CXIX (In Life): He Prays Her Either to Welcome or Dismiss Him at Once
- Sonnet CXCII (In Life): Under the Figure of a Laurel, He Relates the Growth of His Love
- Sonnet XXXIII (In Death): On His Return to Vaucluse After Laura's Death