Love
Sonnet CLXXX (In Life): Her Cruelty Renders Life Worse Than Death to Him
Translated by Rev. Francis Wrangham (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
Through the long lingering day, estranged from rest,
My sorrows flow unceasing; doubly flow,
Painful prerogative of lover's woe!
In that still hour, when slumber soothes th' unblest.
With such deep anguish is my heart opprest,
So stream mine eyes with tears! Of things below
Most miserable I; for Cupid's bow
Has banish'd quiet from this heaving breast.
Ah me! while thus in suffering, morn to morn
And eve to eve succeeds, of death I view
(So should this life be named) one-half gone by--
Yet this I weep not, but another's scorn;
That she, my friend, so tender and so true,
Should see me hopeless burn, and yet her aid deny.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXX (In Life): Her Cruelty Renders Life Worse Than Death to Him.” Translated by Rev. Francis Wrangham. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/215/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXX (In Life): Her Cruelty Renders Life Worse Than Death to Him.” Translated by Rev. Francis Wrangham. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/215/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXIII (In Life): On the Movement of the Emperor Against the Infidels, and the Return of the Pope to Rome
- Sonnet LXXIX (In Life): Recollections of Love
- Sonnet CXL (In Life): The Sweets and Bitters of Love
- Sonnet CCXI (In Life): Melancholy Recollections and Presages
- Canzone III (In Death): Under Various Allegories He Paints the Virtue, Beauty, and Untimely Death of Laura