Love
Sonnet VI (In Death): He Compares Himself to a Besieged City, and Accuses His Own Heart of Treason
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Death
O tyrant thoughts, vouchsafe me some repose!
Sufficeth not that Love, and Death, and Fate,
Make war all round me to my very gate,
But I must in me armèd hosts enclose?
And thou, my heart, to me alone that shows
Disloyal still, what cruel guides of late
In thee find shelter, now the chosen mate
Of my most mischievous and bitter foes?
Love his most secret embassies in thee,
In thee her worst results hard Fate explains,
And Death the memory of that blow, to me
Which shatters all that yet of hope remains;
In thee vague thoughts themselves with error arm,
And thee alone I blame for all my harm.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet VI (In Death): He Compares Himself to a Besieged City, and Accuses His Own Heart of Treason.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/273/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet VI (In Death): He Compares Himself to a Besieged City, and Accuses His Own Heart of Treason.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/273/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Canzone IX (In Life): In Praise of Laura's Eyes: They Lead Him to Contemplate the Path of Life
- Sonnet CXIII (In Life): His Invincible Constancy
- Sonnet CLXXXII (In Life): All Nature Would Be in Darkness Were She, Its Sun, to Perish
- Sonnet XXVII (In Death): He Comforts Himself with the Hope That She Hears Him
- Sonnet LIX (Part I)