Love

Sonnet XVIII (In Death): She Returns in Pity to Comfort Him with Her Advice

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

If that soft breath of sighs, which, from above,
I hear of her so long my lady here,
Who, now in heaven, yet seems, as of our sphere,
To breathe, and move, to feel, and live, and love,
I could but paint, my passionate verse should move
Warmest desires; so jealous, yet so dear
O'er me she bends and breathes, without a fear,
That on the way I tire, or turn, or rove.
She points the path on high: and I who know
Her chaste anxiety and earnest prayer,
In whispers sweet, affectionate, and low,
Train, at her will, my acts and wishes there:
And find such sweetness in her words alone
As with their power should melt the hardest stone.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XVIII (In Death): She Returns in Pity to Comfort Him with Her Advice.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/285/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XVIII (In Death): She Returns in Pity to Comfort Him with Her Advice.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/285/.

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