Love
Sonnet CLXXXV (In Life): Though Her Eyes Destroy Him, He Cannot Tear Himself Away
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
What destiny of mine, what fraud or force,
Unarm'd again conducts me to the field,
Where never came I but with shame to yield
'Scape I or fall, which better is or worse?
--Not worse, but better; from so sweet a source
Shine in my heart those lights, so bright reveal'd
The fatal fire, e'en now as then, which seal'd
My doom, though twenty years have roll'd their course
I feel death's messengers when those dear eyes,
Dazzling me from afar, I see appear,
And if on me they turn as she draw near,
Love with such sweetness tempts me then and tries,
Tell it I cannot, nor recall in sooth,
For wit and language fail to reach the truth!
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXXV (In Life): Though Her Eyes Destroy Him, He Cannot Tear Himself Away.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/220/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CLXXXV (In Life): Though Her Eyes Destroy Him, He Cannot Tear Himself Away.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/220/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XIX (In Life): His Heart, Rejected by Laura, Will Perish, Unless She Relent
- Sonnet LXXIII (In Life): He Describes the State of Two Lovers, and Returns in Thought to His Own Sufferings
- Sonnet CXXXIV (In Life): Laura Sings
- Sonnet CCV (In Life): He Congratulates His Heart on Its Remaining with Her
- Sonnet XLVIII (In Death): He Consoles Himself with the Belief That She Now at Last Sympathises with Him