Petrarch, Il Canzoniere, #12.
Lecture Topics:- The passage of time
- Conflicted feelings
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1 If my life of bitter
torment and of tears
2 could be derided
more, and made more troubled,
3 that I might see,
by virtue of your later years,
4 lady, the light
quenched of your beautiful eyes,
5 and the golden hair
spun fine as silver,
6 and the garland
laid aside and the green clothes,
7 and the delicate
face fade, that makes me
8 fearful and slow to
go weeping:
9 then Love might
grant me such confidence
10 that I'd reveal to
you my sufferings,
11 the years lived
through, and the days and hours:
12 and if time is
opposed to true desire,
13 it does not mean no
food would nourish my grief:
14 I might draw some
from slow sighs.