Love

Sonnet CLXX (In Life): Posterity Will Accord to Him the Pity Which Laura Refuses

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

Alas, with ardour past belief I glow!
None doubt this truth, except one only fair,
Who all excels, for whom alone I care;
She plainly sees, yet disbelieves my woe.
O rich in charms, but poor in faith! canst thou
Look in these eyes, nor read my whole heart there?
Were I not fated by my baleful star,
For me from pity's fount might favour flow.
My flame, of which thou tak'st so little heed,
And thy high praises pour'd through all my song,
O'er many a breast may future influence spread:
These, my sweet fair, so warns prophetic thought,
Closed thy bright eye, and mute thy poet's tongue,
E'en after death shall still with sparks be fraught.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXX (In Life): Posterity Will Accord to Him the Pity Which Laura Refuses.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/202/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXX (In Life): Posterity Will Accord to Him the Pity Which Laura Refuses.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/202/.

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