Love
Sonnet LI (In Death): His Passion Finds Its Only Consolation in Contemplating Her in Heaven
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Death
My days more swiftly than the forest hind
Have fled like shadows, and no pleasure seen
Save for a moment, and few hours serene,
Whose bitter-sweet I treasure in true mind.
O wretched world, unstable, wayward! Blind
Whose hopes in thee alone have centred been;
In thee my heart was captived by her mien
Who bore it with her when she earth rejoin'd:
Her better spirit, now a deathless flower,
And in the highest heaven that still shall be,
Each day inflames me with its beauties more.
Alone, though frailer, fonder every hour,
I muse on her--Now what, and where is she,
And what the lovely veil which here she wore?
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LI (In Death): His Passion Finds Its Only Consolation in Contemplating Her in Heaven.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/318/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LI (In Death): His Passion Finds Its Only Consolation in Contemplating Her in Heaven.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/318/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XIV (In Life): He Compares Himself to a Pilgrim
- Sonnet LXVIII (In Life): He Longs to Return to the Captivity of Love
- Sonnet CXXX (In Life): He Cares Not for Sufferings, So That He Displease Not Laura
- Sonnet CC (In Life): He Prays Love, Who is the Cause of His Offences, to Obtain Pardon for Him
- Sonnet XLI (In Death): It is Impossible for Him to Describe Her Excellences