Love
Sonnet IX (In Life): With a Present of Fruit in Spring
Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
When the great planet which directs the hours
To dwell with Taurus from the North is borne,
Such virtue rays from each enkindled horn,
Rare beauty instantly all nature dowers;
Nor this alone, which meets our sight, that flowers
Richly the upland and the vale adorn,
But Earth's cold womb, else lustreless and lorn,
Is quick and warm with vivifying powers,
Till herbs and fruits, like these I send, are rife.
--So she, a sun amid her fellow fair,
Shedding the rays of her bright eyes on me,
Thoughts, acts, and words of love wakes into life--
But, ah! for me is no new Spring, nor e'er,
Smile they on whom she will, again can be.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet IX (In Life): With a Present of Fruit in Spring.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/8/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet IX (In Life): With a Present of Fruit in Spring.” Translated by Major Macgregor. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/8/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet XXX (In Life): He Complains of the Veil and Hand of Laura, That They Deprive Him of the Sight of Her Eyes
- Sonnet LXXXVIII (In Life): Her Kind and Gentle Salutation Thrills His Heart with Pleasure
- Sonnet CLI (In Life): During a Serious Illness of Laura
- Sonnet CCXIX (In Life): On Laura Putting Her Hand Before Her Eyes While He Was Gazing on Her
- Sonnet LIX (In Death): He Should Have Foreseen His Loss in the Unusual Lustre of Her Eyes