Love

Sonnet CXCIII (In Life): Though in the Midst of Pain, He Deems Himself the Happiest of Men

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

I sang, who now lament; nor less delight
Than in my song I found, in tears I find;
For on the cause and not effect inclined,
My senses still desire to scale that height:
Whence, mildly if she smile or hardly smite,
Cruel and cold her acts, or meek and kind,
All I endure, nor care what weights they bind,
E'en though her rage would break my armour quite.
Let Love and Laura, world and fortune join,
And still pursue their usual course for me,
I care not, if unblest, in life to be.
Let me or burn to death or living pine,
No gentler state than mine beneath the sun,
Since from a source so sweet my bitters run.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CXCIII (In Life): Though in the Midst of Pain, He Deems Himself the Happiest of Men.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/228/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CXCIII (In Life): Though in the Midst of Pain, He Deems Himself the Happiest of Men.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/228/.

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