Love
Sonnet XXXVI (In Life): Some Have Wept for Their Worst Enemies, but Laura Deigns Him Not a Single Tear
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
He who for empire at Pharsalia threw,
Reddening its beauteous plain with civil gore,
As Pompey's corse his conquering soldiers bore,
Wept when the well-known features met his view:
The shepherd youth, who fierce Goliath slew,
Had long rebellious children to deplore,
And bent, in generous grief, the brave Saul o'er
His shame and fall when proud Gilboa knew:
But you, whose cheek with pity never paled,
Who still have shields at hand to guard you well
Against Love's bow, which shoots its darts in vain,
Behold me by a thousand deaths assail'd,
And yet no tears of thine compassion tell,
But in those bright eyes anger and disdain.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XXXVI (In Life): Some Have Wept for Their Worst Enemies, but Laura Deigns Him Not a Single Tear.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/43/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet XXXVI (In Life): Some Have Wept for Their Worst Enemies, but Laura Deigns Him Not a Single Tear.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/43/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet LI (In Life): The Fall
- Sonnet CX (In Life): He Likens Himself to the Insect Which, Flying into One's Eyes, Meets Its Death
- Sestina VI (In Life): The History of His Love; and Prayer for Help
- Sonnet XIX (In Death): On the Death of His Friend Sennuccio
- Sonnet LXXXV (In Death): He Confesses and Regrets His Sins, and Prays God to Save Him from Eternal Death