Love
Sonnet LVIII (In Death): He Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting
Translated by Dr. Morehead (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Death
O Day, O hour, O moment sweetest, last,
O stars conspired to make me poor indeed!
O look too true, in which I seem'd to read.
At parting, that my happiness was past;
Now my full loss I know, I feel at last:
Then I believed (ah! weak and idle creed!)
'Twas but a part alone I lost; instead,
Was there a hope that flew not with the blast?
For, even then, it was in heaven ordain'd
That the sweet light of all my life should die:
'Twas written in her sadly-pensive eye!
But mine unconscious of the truth remain'd;
Or, what it would not see, to see refrain'd,
That I might sink in sudden misery!
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LVIII (In Death): He Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting.” Translated by Dr. Morehead. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/328/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LVIII (In Death): He Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting.” Translated by Dr. Morehead. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/328/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet IV (In Life): He Celebrates the Birthplace of Laura
- Sonnet LVII (In Life): On the Portrait of Laura Painted by Simon Memmi
- Sonnet CXVII (In Life): Dialogue of the Poet with His Heart
- Sonnet CLXXXVII (In Life): His Nights Are, Like His Days, Passed in Torment
- Sonnet XXIX (In Death): The Union of Beauty and Virtue is Dissolved by Her Death