Love
Sonnet CLXXIV (In Life): He Leaves Vaucluse, but His Spirit Remains There with Laura
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
The loved hills where I left myself behind,
Whence ever 'twas so hard my steps to tear,
Before me rise; at each remove I bear
The dear load to my lot by Love consign'd.
Often I wonder inly in my mind,
That still the fair yoke holds me, which despair
Would vainly break, that yet I breathe this air;
Though long the chain, its links but closer bind.
And as a stag, sore struck by hunter's dart,
Whose poison'd iron rankles in his breast,
Flies and more grieves the more the chase is press'd,
So I, with Love's keen arrow in my heart,
Endure at once my death and my delight,
Rack'd with long grief, and weary with vain flight.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXIV (In Life): He Leaves Vaucluse, but His Spirit Remains There with Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/208/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXIV (In Life): He Leaves Vaucluse, but His Spirit Remains There with Laura.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/208/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet VI (In Life): Of His Foolish Passion for Laura
- Sonnet LIX (In Life): If His Passion Still Increase, He Must Soon Die
- Sonnet CXX (In Life): He Implores Mercy or Death
- Sonnet CXCIII (In Life): Though in the Midst of Pain, He Deems Himself the Happiest of Men
- Sonnet XXXIV (In Death): Soaring in Imagination to Heaven, He Meets Laura, and is Happy