Love
Sonnet LX (In Death): He Prays That She Will Be Near Him at His Death, Which He Feels Approaching
Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Death
Go, plaintive verse, to the cold marble go,
Which hides in earth my treasure from these eyes;
There call on her who answers from yon skies,
Although the mortal part dwells dark and low.
Of life how I am wearied make her know,
Of stemming these dread waves that round me rise:
But, copying all her virtues I so prize,
Her track I follow, yet my steps are slow.
I sing of her, living, or dead, alone;
(Dead, did I say? She is immortal made!)
That by the world she should be loved, and known.
Oh! in my passage hence may she be near,
To greet my coming that's not long delay'd;
And may I hold in heaven the rank herself holds there!
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LX (In Death): He Prays That She Will Be Near Him at His Death, Which He Feels Approaching.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/332/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LX (In Death): He Prays That She Will Be Near Him at His Death, Which He Feels Approaching.” Translated by Rev. Dr. Nott. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/332/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XLIV (In Life): Few Are the Sweets, but Many the Bitters of Love
- Sonnet CI (In Life): Reply to a Sonnet of Jacopo Da Lentino
- Sonnet CLXXI (In Life): He Rejoices at Being on Earth with Her, as He is Thereby Enabled Better to Imitate Her Virtues
- Sonnet IX (In Death): He Describes His Sad State
- Sonnet LXXX (In Death): Far from Fearing, He Prays for Death