Love
Sonnet LXXIX (In Life): Recollections of Love
Translated by John Penn (in Bohn, 1879) · From To Laura in Life
That window where my sun is often seen
Refulgent, and the world's at morning's hours;
And that, where Boreas blows, when winter lowers,
And the short days reveal a clouded scene;
That bench of stone where, with a pensive mien,
My Laura sits, forgetting beauty's powers;
Haunts where her shadow strikes the walls or flowers,
And her feet press the paths or herbage green:
The place where Love assail'd me with success;
And spring, the fatal time that, first observed,
Revives the keen remembrance every year;
With looks and words, that o'er me have preserved
A power no length of time can render less,
Call to my eyes the sadly-soothing tear.
Cite this poem
MLA
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LXXIX (In Life): Recollections of Love.” Translated by John Penn. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/99/.
Chicago
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch). “Sonnet LXXIX (In Life): Recollections of Love.” Translated by John Penn. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/petrarch/99/.
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More by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
- Sonnet X (In Life): To Stefano Colonna the Elder, Inviting Him to the Country
- Sonnet LXII (In Life): Though Not Secure Against the Wiles of Love, He Feels Strength Enough to Resist Them
- Sonnet CXXVI (In Life): He Extols the Beauty and Virtue of Laura
- Sonnet CXCVI (In Life): The Evil Results of Unrestrained Anger
- Sonnet XXXVII (In Death): He Prays Laura to Look Down upon Him from Heaven