Love
Sonnet CCXVIII (In Life): His Soul Visits Her in Sleep
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
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.
Cite this poem
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/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Canzone V (In Life): Night Brings Repose to Others, but Not to Him
- Sonnet XCIX (In Life): The Causes of His Woe
- Sonnet CLXIV (In Life): Her Hair and Eyes
- Sonnet V (In Death): He Encourages His Soul to Lift Itself to God, and to Abandon the Vanities of Earth
- Sonnet LXXIII (In Death): He Complains of His Sufferings, Which Admit of No Relief