Love

Sonnet IX (In Life): With a Present of Fruit in Spring

by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304–1374

Translated by Major Macgregor (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life

Love

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.

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/.

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