Love

Sonnet CCXVIII (In Life): His Soul Visits Her in Sleep

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

Oh! that from her some vengeance I could wrest
With words and glances who my peace destroys,
And then abash'd, for my worse sorrow, flies,
Veiling her eyes so cruel, yet so blest;
Thus mine afflicted spirits and oppress'd
By sure degrees she sorely drains and dries,
And in my heart, as savage lion, cries
Even at night, when most I should have rest.
My soul, which sleep expels from his abode,
The body leaves, and, from its trammels free,
Seeks her whose mien so often menace show'd.
I marvel much, if heard its advent be,
That while to her it spake, and o'er her wept,
And round her clung, asleep she alway kept.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXVIII (In Life): His Soul Visits Her in Sleep.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/255/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXVIII (In Life): His Soul Visits Her in Sleep.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/255/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)