Love

Sonnet CCXXII (In Life): The Beauty of Laura is Peerless

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

In one fair star I saw two brilliant eyes,
With sweetness, modesty, so glistening o'er,
That soon those graceful nests of Love before
My worn heart learnt all others to despise:
Equall'd not her whoever won the prize
In ages gone on any foreign shore;
Not she to Greece whose wondrous beauty bore
Unnumber'd ills, to Troy death's anguish'd cries:
Not the fair Roman, who, with ruthless blade
Piercing her chaste and outraged bosom, fled
Dishonour worse than death, like charms display'd;
Such excellence should brightest glory shed
On Nature, as on me supreme delight,
But, ah! too lately come, too soon it takes its flight.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXXII (In Life): The Beauty of Laura is Peerless.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/259/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXXII (In Life): The Beauty of Laura is Peerless.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/259/.

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