Love
Sonnet CCXXVII (In Life): He Laments His Absence from Laura and Colonna, the Only Objects of His Affection
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
My lord and friend! thoughts, wishes, all inclined
My heart to visit one so dear to me,
But Fortune--can she ever worse decree?--
Held me in hand, misled, or kept behind.
Since then the dear desire Love taught my mind
But leads me to a death I did not see,
And while my twin lights, wheresoe'er I be,
Are still denied, by day and night I've pined.
Affection for my lord, my lady's love,
The bonds have been wherewith in torments long
I have been bound, which round myself I wove.
A Laurel green, a Column fair and strong,
This for three lustres, that for three years more
In my fond breast, nor wish'd it free, I bore.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXXVII (In Life): He Laments His Absence from Laura and Colonna, the Only Objects of His Affection.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/265/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet CCXXVII (In Life): He Laments His Absence from Laura and Colonna, the Only Objects of His Affection.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/265/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXX (In Life): He Complains of the Veil and Hand of Laura, That They Deprive Him of the Sight of Her Eyes
- Sonnet LXXXVIII (In Life): Her Kind and Gentle Salutation Thrills His Heart with Pleasure
- Sonnet CLI (In Life): During a Serious Illness of Laura
- Sonnet CCXX (In Life): A Smiling Welcome, Which Laura Gave Him Unexpectedly, Almost Kills Him with Joy
- Sonnet LXI (In Death): He Prays That, in Reward for His Long and Virtuous Attachment, She Will Visit Him in Death