Love

Sonnet XXIX (In Death): The Union of Beauty and Virtue is Dissolved by Her Death

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

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

Love

Two mortal foes in one fair breast combined,
Beauty and Virtue, in such peace allied
That ne'er rebellion ruffled that pure mind,
But in rare union dwelt they side by side;
By Death they now are shatter'd and disjoin'd;
One is in heaven, its glory and its pride,
One under earth, her brilliant eyes now blind,
Whence stings of love once issued far and wide.
That winning air, that rare discourse and meek,
Surely from heaven inspired, that gentle glance
Which wounded my poor heart, and wins it still,
Are gone; if I am slow her road to seek,
I hope her fair and graceful name perchance
To consecrate with this worn weary quill.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XXIX (In Death): The Union of Beauty and Virtue is Dissolved by Her Death.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/296/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XXIX (In Death): The Union of Beauty and Virtue is Dissolved by Her Death.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/296/.

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