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The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch SONNET LXXIII.Quando giugne per gli occhi al cor profondo.HE DESCRIBES THE STATE OF TWO LOVERS, AND RETURNS IN THOUGHT TO HIS OWN SUFFERINGS.
When reaches through the eyes the conscious heart
Its imaged fate, all other thoughts depart;The powers which from the soul their functions takeA dead weight on the frame its limbs then make.From the first miracle a second springs,At times the banish'd faculty that brings,So fleeing from itself, to some new seat,Which feeds revenge and makes e'en exile sweet.Thus in both faces the pale tints were rife,Because the strength which gave the glow of lifeOn neither side was where it wont to dwell—I on that day these things remember'd well,Of that fond couple when each varying mienTold me in like estate what long myself had been.
Macgregor. |