Love

Sonnet CLXXIV (In Life): He Leaves Vaucluse, but His Spirit Remains There with Laura

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

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.

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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