Love

Sonnet V (In Life): He Plays upon the Name Laureta or Laura

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

anonymous (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

In sighs when I outbreathe your cherish'd name,
That name which love has writ upon my heart,
LAUd instantly upon my doting tongue,
At the first thought of its sweet sound, is heard;
Your REgal state, which I encounter next,
Doubles my valour in that high emprize:
But TAcit ends the word; your praise to tell
Is fitting load for better backs than mine.
Thus all who call you, by the name itself,
Are taught at once to LAUd and to REvere,
O worthy of all reverence and esteem!
Save that perchance Apollo may disdain
That mortal tongue of his immortal boughs
Should ever so presume as e'en to speak.

MLA

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet V (In Life): He Plays upon the Name Laureta or Laura.” Translated by anonymous. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/4/.

Chicago

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet V (In Life): He Plays upon the Name Laureta or Laura.” Translated by anonymous. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/4/.

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