Love
Sonnet CCXXI (In Life): Thinking Always of Laura, It Pains Him to Remember Where She is Left
Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
Still have I sought a life of solitude;
The streams, the fields, the forests know my mind;
That I might 'scape the sordid and the blind,
Who paths forsake trod by the wise and good:
Fain would I leave, were mine own will pursued,
These Tuscan haunts, and these soft skies behind,
Sorga's thick-wooded hills again to find;
And sing and weep in concert with its flood.
But Fortune, ever my sore enemy,
Compels my steps, where I with sorrow see
Cast my fair treasure in a worthless soil:
Yet less a foe she justly deigns to prove,
For once, to me, to Laura, and to love;
Favouring my song, my passion, with her smile.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXXI (In Life): Thinking Always of Laura, It Pains Him to Remember Where She is Left.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/258/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXXI (In Life): Thinking Always of Laura, It Pains Him to Remember Where She is Left.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/258/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XV (In Life): His State When Laura is Present, and When She Departs
- Sonnet LXX (In Life): To His Brother Gerardo, on the Death of a Lady to Whom He Was Attached
- Sonnet CXXXI (In Life): Night Brings Peace to All Save Him
- Sestina VII (In Life): He Despairs of Escape from the Torments by Which He is Surrounded
- Sonnet XLV (In Death): His Only Desire is Again to Be with Her