Love
Sonnet CLXXV (In Life): His Woes Are Unexampled
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
From Spanish Ebro to Hydaspes old,
Exploring ocean in its every nook,
From the Red Sea to the cold Caspian shore,
In earth, in heaven one only Phoenix dwells.
What fortunate, or what disastrous bird
Omen'd my fate? which Parca winds my yarn,
That I alone find Pity deaf as asp,
And wretched live who happy hoped to be?
Let me not speak of her, but him her guide,
Who all her heart with love and sweetness fills--
Gifts which, from him o'erflowing, follow her,
Who, that my sweets may sour and cruel be,
Dissembleth, careth not, or will not see
That silver'd, ere my time, these temples are.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXV (In Life): His Woes Are Unexampled.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/209/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXV (In Life): His Woes Are Unexampled.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/209/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XVIII (In Life): The Praises of Laura Transcend His Poetic Powers
- Sonnet LXXII (In Life): He Writes What Love Bids Him
- Sonnet CXXXIII (In Life): To One Who Desired Latin Verse of Him
- Sonnet CCIV (In Life): He Bids His Heart Return to Laura, Not Perceiving That It Had Never Left Her
- Sonnet XLVII (In Death): Just When He Might Fairly Hope Some Return of Affection, Envious Death Carries Her Off